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| Sunday, August 6, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Speight denied
bail, sent back to prison
LAHORE, Aug 5 — The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday dismissed a petition filed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif against the constitution of a three-member Sindh High Court bench hearing different appeals in the plane hijacking case. Kulsoom tones down anti-govt campaign |
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| Number of death
sentences in Pak irks rights panel ISLAMABAD, Aug 5 — Pakistan has been liberal in handing down capital punishment with more than 4,000 persons given the death penalty that rights groups complain, often involves miscarriage of justice. Israel leaves Lebanon,
peacekeepers move in New planet found COLOMBO, Aug 5 — Sri Lanka’s ruling People’s Alliance government has suffered a jolt with one of its lawmakers resigning in protest against the Constitution Bill, media reports said today. Plane crash probe gets new twist
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Speight denied bail, sent back to prison SUVA, Aug 5 (AFP) — Fiji coup plotter George Speight and 12 of his top associates were today ordered back to their prison island after a magistrate refused bail amid prosecutors’ fears of fresh unrest if they were freed. A tired-looking Speight, answering under his Fijian name of Ilikini Naitini, appeared before Chief Magistrate Salesi Temo to plead not guilty of five charges. Treason charges were not laid today. It was the first time he had been seen in public since being arrested a week ago and then taken out to Nukulau Island near here. Speight, led on to a bus at the end of the hearing, appeared cheerful on leaving the court. His only emotional moment came when his 12-year-old niece Jackie Speight was briefly allowed to hug him. Ligairi appeared in court with his head wrapped in a bandage. Another defendant Samu Konatace nursed a broken arm. They are charged with causing “further instability should the appointment of the interim government not be in their favour” and breach of the peace. Reuters adds: Speight and 12 key associates appeared briefly in Suva magistrates court on Saturday amid tight security after being transported by boat from Nukulau prison island off Suva. Chief Magistrate Salesi Temo Heard bail applications after the charges were read. Bail for Speight and his associates was opposed by acting Director of Public Prosecutions Joe Naigulevu on the grounds of public safety. Armed soldiers patrolled the court grounds as the rebel leader, who says he was beaten in captivity, arrived in a red police van with his associates. He smiled as he was driven in to the courthouse and looked well. There were no signs of large gatherings by Speight’s supporters. Defence lawyers asked for and were granted an adjournment of one hour to consult their clients immediately after Speight arrived at about 8
am. (0130 hrs IST). |
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SC rejects
Sharif’s petition LAHORE, Aug 5 (ANI) — The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday dismissed a petition filed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif against the constitution of a three-member Sindh High Court bench hearing different appeals in the plane hijacking case. The PML leader had contended that while other appeals against ATC’s decisions were to be taken up by two-member division benches of the SHC, his was being heard by a three-member full bench of the court. Mr Sharif’s counsel Azizullah Sheikh called the move “an act of discrimination,” saying his client deserved a treatment being meted out to others. He added his client was being deprived of “all opportunities of defence and hearing.” The apex court comprising Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Arif, Justice Munir A. Sheikh and Justice Qazi Muhammad Farooq rejected the petition after Special Prosecutor and Sindh Advocate Geneal Raja Muhammad Qureshi asserted it was the privilege of the Chief Justice to constitute a bench of any strength considering the importance of the case being heard. |
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Kulsoom tones down anti-govt campaign ISLAMABAD, Aug 5 (PTI) — Mrs Kulsoom Nawaz, wife of deposed premier Nawaz Sharif, has considerably toned down her anti-government campaign in the wake of her husband’s dialogue offer to the Pakistan military regime. In an informal chat with reporters on Thursday, Mr Nawaz, when asked whether she had mellowed down her tirade against the government, said: “You have to change yourselves according to the circumstances.” When reminded of Information Minister Javed Jabbar’s statement that the government was not interested in talking to Mr Sharif, she said: “We don’t take his comments seriously.” A PML leader, who disapproves of Mrs Nawaz’s policy towards the government, conceded that she had slowed down her campaign. “Her attitude is now much better.” A daily The News quoted a PML leader, Mr Ahsan Iqbal, Mr Sharif’s newly-appointed chief coordinator to mobilise the party, said. “We are observing an undeclared ceasefire to signal to the government that our July 30 talks offer is sincere,” The party leadership does not want to give the impression that it is not serious in its offer. Everybody wants to see the government response. “Confusing signals will be sent if harsh attacks also continue in the wake of the dialogue offer by Mr Sharif. We have taken a calculated decision and adopted a careful approach matching the requirement of the time,” he said. But, he said, if there was no positive reply, the party would consider other options. Some party leaders had been mounting pressure on Mr Sharif to end
confrontation with the government as it would head him, the party and the country nowhere. |
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Number of death
sentences in Pak irks rights panel ISLAMABAD, Aug 5 (IPS) — Pakistan has been liberal in handing down capital punishment with more than 4,000 persons given the death penalty that rights groups complain, often involves miscarriage of justice. However, rights advocates in the country are also said to be not assertive enough in their demand that this be corrected. The near absence of a sustained and vocal domestic campaign against capital punishment is said to be one of the reasons why the country has one of the largest number of prisoners sentenced to death by low level courts. “The number of death penalties in 1998 doubled in relation to the previous year,” said a Pakistan Law Commission official. Last year, 122 death sentences were handed down by various
courts. |
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Israel leaves Lebanon, peacekeepers move in NOQOURA (Lebanon), Aug 5 (Reuters) — UN peacekeepers fanned out in south Lebanon today in the final phase of a deployment that comes more than two months after Israel ended its occupation of the area. A convoy of Fijian troops in five armoured personnel carriers kicked off the process, setting off from positions near the Naqoura base of the international force in Lebanon
(UNIFIL) at 6 am. (0830 IST), the day after president Emile Lahoud gave the United Nations the green light to complete its deployment. A
UNIFIL statement said that in the final, full-scale phase of the operation, more than 500 peacekeepers would deploy in the south and along the border, an area controlled by Islamist Hizbollah guerrillas since
Israel ended its 22-year-old occupation of south Lebanon on May 24. West of Naqoura, Fijian and Nepalese peacekeepers set up five positions, two stationed right on the border. Some positions were built close to posts occupied by the Israeli army and its south Lebanon army
(SLA) militia. Near Marjayoun, Swedish and Finnish soldiers established posts at Tel Nihas, a defunct crossing for the Israeli army, and Taibe, close to the Israeli settlement of Metulla. Further south, Fijian troops created
UNIFIL’s first maritime observation post on the mediterranean coast near Naqoura port. The troops will take several days to set up 20 new posts and expand existing sites. Yesterday, UN officer Daljeet Bagga said the peacekeepers still had to lay down infrastructure and check for mines left behind by the Israeli army. |
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New planet found EL PASO (Texas), Aug 5 (AP) — A Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a young star in the Earth’s “backyard” could help reveal whether Earth, with its variety of life forms, is a unique jewel in the universe. Mr William Cochran, with the University of Texas’ McDonald Observatory, said in a news release that finding a planet orbiting Epsilon Eridani, “a star very similar to our own Sun ... is like finding a planet in our own backyard — relatively speaking.” He is scheduled to present the findings on Monday at the 24th general assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Manchester, England. “It’s a very exciting discovery because ... the star itself is the closest star for which a planet has ever been discovered,” Mr Geoff Marcy, a University of California-Berkeley professor and co-author on the project, said on Friday. “It’s only 10 light years away.” Scientists discovered the planet by observing Epsilon Eridani as it wobbled on its axis. That wobble is caused by the planet’s gravitational influence as it orbits the star. By measuring the size and frequency of the wobble, researchers can calculate the size of the guest planet and its distance from the host star. The new planet has about the same mass as Jupiter, said Mr Artie Hatzes, a McDonald Observatory team member. The planet takes longer to orbit its star than any of the other planets identified outside our solar system. Jupiter takes about 11 years to orbit the Sun, while the new planet takes about seven years to orbit its star. But Mr Marcy points to what appears to be a unique feature of our solar system, most of the planets move in nearly circular orbits. The new planet has an oblong orbit as do most of the other newly discovered planets. Earth’s circular orbit provides a relatively stable environment, evening out the extremes of cooling and heating that would be experienced on the surface of a planet with an oblong
orbit. |
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Statute Bill: Lankan MP quits COLOMBO, Aug 5 (PTI) — Sri Lanka’s
ruling People’s Alliance government has suffered a jolt with one of
its lawmakers resigning in protest against the Constitution Bill,
media reports said today. Jayasena Rajalkaruna of President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party, quit after expressing reservations over the new Bill and its provisions to devolve powers to Tamil-dominated northeastern province. Rajalkaruna is the first ruling party mp to resign following policy differences with the government which has been banking on mass defections from the opposition United National Party to get two-thirds majority in Parliament for the passage of the Bill. But his resignation is not a set back to the government as under the rules, the ruling alliance can nominate another member in his place, party leaders said, adding that a new member from the Kurunegala District, from where Jayasena was elected, would be nominated to fill the vacancy. Jayasena’s resignation has come at a time when the government has stepped up efforts to mobilise the necessary 150 votes in Parliament to gain mandatory two thirds majority for the Constitution Bill, which proposes to replace the presidential system with parliament democracy and devolve powers to Tamil-dominated provinces and end the decade old ethnic conflict. The Bill has been opposed by Buddhist monks,
UNP and several other smaller political parties. For its part, the ruling alliance has over 130 votes and still require 15 to 18 votes more from
UNP dissidents to get the Bill ratified. The government scored a victory of sorts yesterday with the Supreme Court allowing its staunch ally the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party to appoint three members to fill the vacancies of mps. This would take up the strength of the party from the present six to nine. The
UNP, meanwhile, appears to be struggling to prevent its 80 mps from crossing over. The party has now decided to boycott the debate on the Bill beginning August 7 to prevent its mps from attending Parliament. But the government said it was confident of getting the support of over 15
UNP mps for the requisite 150 votes. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan police have arrested a former senior police official, wanted in connection with human rights abuses during the previous
UNP regime, when he returned from India on Thursday after over a five-year exile abroad. Former
SSP Douglas Peiris, charged with torture and murder of scores of Sinhalese youth during height of the insurgency of ultra left-wing Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna in 1988-90 was arrested at the international airport here after his return from Chennai, newspaper Daily News reported today. His arrest, amidst heightened political tension between the
UNP and the government over the Constitution Bill, assumes significance as Peiris is a key suspect in the case against
UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe, who has been accused of giving orders for the torture. Wickramasinghe held the post of industries minister in R. Premadasa’s Cabinet when security forces conducted a crackdown against Perumuna activists all over the country in which over 60,000 youth were alleged to have been killed. A special judicial commission comprising retired Supreme Court judges named Peiris and other officials guilty of the massacres and listed accusations by several witnesses concerning
Wickramasinghe’s involvement in the killings. The Supreme Court, however, has struck down the findings of the commission on technical grounds. Peiris fled the country in 1995 to India and later to European countries and stayed there since then. His arrival in Sri Lanka especially at a politically sensitive time has sparked off speculation that his presence could be effectively used by the government to discredit the
UNP leader both during the forthcoming parliamentary debate on the Constitution Bill and the general elections, scheduled to be held later this year. |
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Plane crash probe
gets new twist PARIS, Aug 5 (AFP) — A 40-centimetre strip of metal that did not come from the crashed Air France Concorde has been found among runway debris, adding a new twist to the disaster that left 113 persons dead. The new clue was announced yesterday by France’s Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA), the first time investigators have referred to debris other than that from the supersonic airliner, which crashed on July 25. The BEA said pieces of tyre found on the runway at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport appeared to have come from just one tyre on the front inside of the plane’s left-side undercarriage. Previously, the BEA had thought the tyre debris might have come from two tyres. The BEA statement said investigators had found no debris from either the wheel rims or the engines, but that part of the fuel tank had been found among the debris on the runway. Traces of soot were also found near the debris. |
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SUVA: Fijian coup leader George Speight, right, and his security
adviser, former Special Air Service member, Ilisoni Ligairi, leave court in Suva aboard a heavily guarded police bus after a bail hearing
on Saturday. Speight, Lingairi and six others were denied bail after being charged with unlawful assembly and weapons violations, and will return to the small deserted island off Suva where they are being held by the military.
— AP/PTI
