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| Wednesday, February
7, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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5 die in
B'desh clash over ban on edicts Odds
stacked against Barak A breather
for Wahid Man kills
4, self in US factory Roach cure
for AIDS ? Cruise,
Nicole separate Russia to
help in LCA project |
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Pak SC
questions military on elections Gunmen
kill 2 Shias
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5 die in B'desh clash
over ban on edicts DHAKA, Feb 6 (Reuters) — At least five people were killed and 100 injured today as Islamic activists, protesting against a court ruling banning religious edicts, battled the police in an eastern Bangladeshi town, a local official said. "Today's violence has left at least five people dead and scores injured," said the official in Brahmanbaria, 160 km east of Dhaka. "The deaths were caused as the police and other security men opened fire to disperse militants attacking them and rampaging through the town," the official said. Some witnesses in the town said six people had been killed in firing. Earlier local officials and witnesses said the police fired tear gas and guns as they tried to disperse hundreds of activists of the Islami Oikyo Jote group who were armed with sticks, knives and crude bombs. The protests followed a High Court ruling in December to ban certain fatwas, or edicts, that could subject women to torture for alleged adultery and prevent them from mixing and working with men. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has warned that orthodox Islamic and conservative political groups were trying to plunge the country into chaos. Most of the estimated 100 people injured were militants who had organised a day-long strike in the town, but at least 10 policemen were also hurt, witnesses said. The Islami Oikyo Jote is a member of the BNP's alliance, which wants Hasina to resign and hold early parliamentary elections. Elections are not due before July 13. Hasina has refused to quit under pressure, and on Monday she urged "freedom and democracy-loving Bangladeshis to rise against those trying to misuse Islam for gaining political power". Atiqur Rahman (TNS) adds: The four-party Opposition alliance has decided to hit back with a programme of 12-hour shutdown (hartal) tomorrow across the country to protest against the arrest of two top leaders of Islami Oikyo
Jote (IOJ), an alliance partner. It is a move to counter the government crackdown on religious zealots who resorted to killing of a cop and let loose a reign of violent demonstrations damaging vehicles on the road, pelting stones on security forces. Political analysts consider this as a fight for survival of the zealots with the backing of alliance partners Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jatiya Party (JP) faction led by Ershad and fundamentalist Jamat-e-Islami (JI). All quarters were surprised to know the decision of the alliance on Monday evening. Political quarters thought that at least the BNP and JP would not extend any support to the IOJ now involved in killing of a cop. The media reports indicated that there was difference of opinion in the liaison committee meeting of the alliance held on Monday evening and the alliance support came late last night when the JI and the IOJ exerted pressure on Ms Khaleda Zia to stand by them during their crises. The moderates in the BNP and the JP opposed the support. The government crackdown on religious zealots continued with the arrest of the IOJ chairman, Moulana Azizul Huq, 30 km north of Dhaka in a car on his way to the Capital from Rangpur, a northern district, before dawn on
Monday. Moulana Azizul Huq and Moulana Fazlul Huq Amini, who was arrested earlier on Sunday, were sent to the Dhaka Central Jail when their bail prayers were rejected. Both were indicted in separate cases. Moulana Azizul Huq is charged with involvement in the brutal murder of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police constable Badsha Mia inside a mosque on Saturday morning and inciting hatred against the NGOs. Moulana Fazlul Huq Amini is facing a charge of derogatory remarks against High Court Judges, declaring death penalty to them declaring the judges as ‘murtad’ (non-believer) and inciting demonstrators to attack the police. The shutdown tomorrow will be a test case for the other partners of the four-party alliance whether they are seriously backing the programme mobilising their supporters to enforce it. During the last few months, enforcement of hartal through picketing on streets to block movement of vehicles, close shops have become difficult because of the Public Safety
Act (PSA) enacted last year to punish such acts. Activists of opposition political parties mostly remain off the road for fear of arrest and implicating in such cases. As such the act has become a deterrent factor for enforcing hartals. |
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JERUSALEM, Feb 6 (AP) — Mr Ariel Sharon, pledging to halt months of violence and take a tough line with Palestinians, was forecast to score a sweeping victory in today’s election against embattled Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who has staked his job to a peace treaty he has been unable to deliver. Sharon, 72, was widely regarded as too old and scarred by controversy to win election just a few months ago. Yet his reputation as Israel’s leading security hawk propelled him to a lead of nearly 20 percentage points in the final opinion poll before an election cast as a referendum on how Israel should deal with its Palestinian neighbours. Masked Israeli Arabs opposed to voting temporarily blocked the main road and stoned passing cars in Taibeh, in central Israel, Army radio reported. The police drove the men back and prevented them from entering town. Mr Barak has warned that Sharon could plunge Israel into war with Palestinians or neighbouring Arab states. But Israelis have expressed a deep sense of disillusionment with Mr Barak, who has been unable to quell the conflict with Palestinians and has not reached any peace agreements despite offering concessions that many Israelis view as excessive. The polling started at 0500 GMT today and closed at 2000 GMT, when both major TV stations were planning to announce projected results based on exit poll. Islamic militants threatened bomb attacks in Tel Aviv, and one of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s lieutenants in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouti, predicted today would be a “day of rage,” with large-scale demonstrations against Israel. |
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A breather for Wahid JAKARTA, Feb 6 — Indonesia’s floundering President Abdurrahman Wahid appeared to stave off a push to bring forward an impeachment hearing after the country’s two main parties rejected the move today. Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri’s Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) and the former ruling Golkar party opposed calls for the top legislature to sit within eight weeks to consider impeachment instead of the four months as mandated by the constitution. The two control a majority of the Parliament and the 700-member People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), which comprises 500 and 200 regional representatives. “It is unnecessary to take moves outside the constitutional corridor, such as the attempt to hasten the MPR session,” PDI-P deputy secretary-general Pramono Anung quoted Megawati telling party members, the official Antara news agency reported. Earlier, the speaker and Golkar chief Akbar Tandjung said Wahid’s legitimacy had been eroded by a parliamentary censure over two graft scandals, but any move to call a special MPR session to impeach him must follow the normal, lengthy constitutional process. Wahid has denied any wrongdoing over the two scandals — one of which involves the theft of $4.1 million from the state commodities regulator Bulog, the other his acceptance of a $2 million aid donation from the Sultan of Brunei. Underscoring the risk of unrest across Indonesia, thousands of pro-Wahid protesters ransacked a Golkar office in the East Java port town of Banyuwangi and forced the port to close for a few hours. Banyuwangi links Java with the resort island of Bali. The police are on alert in the East Java capital, Surabaya, where several thousand Wahid supporters are due to stage a rally on Wednesday. Hundreds of protesters also hit the streets of Jakarta mainly calling for the disbanding of the Golkar party, the political vehicle of disgraced former President Suharto. There were no clashes. Mr Tandjung said Wahid’s formal response to the censure, which must be made within three months, would be crucial to his fate. “He must respond to the decision (the censure) from Parliament, then everything will depend on his response,” he told reporters. “In terms of politics, his credibility has fallen. His legitimacy has also fallen. The legitimacy of the government is now very low.” The position taken by PDI-P and Golkar falls short of whole-hearted support for the struggling president and in the volatile world of Indonesian politics an about-face by one or both is far from impossible. MPR chief Amien Rais, who helped engineer Wahid’s surprise rise to power 15 months ago but is now spearheading the push to topple him, has been lobbying legislators to convene the MPR within eight weeks. He also played a prominent role in the wave of opposition that led to Suharto’s downfall in 1998. Most of the public support for Wahid has appeared in East Java, heartland of the largest Muslim organisation, the 40 million strong Nahdlatul Ulama, which he once led. Besides blocking Banyuwangi port, which has since reopened, hundreds of people in nearby Situbondo town blocked streets with logs, residents said. Tandjung, another former Wahid ally, warned that Wahid’s efforts to cling to power would damage a nation still struggling to pull itself out of three years of chaos. “The longer he stays in power, the more damage he will do to this country’s economy and politics. He won’t be able to last out his term until 2004,” he told Singapore’s Straits Times.
— Reuters |
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Man kills 4, self in US factory MELROSE PARK, Feb 6 (Reuters) — A man, about to go to prison for stealing engine parts at the factory where he had worked, forced his way into the plant near Chicago yesterday and opened fire, killing four persons before taking his own life. Four others were wounded, two of them critically, in the latest continuing plague of violent attacks at work, in schools and in other public places in the USA. The attack occurred at an engine manufacturing plant operated by International Truck and Engine Corp., a subsidiary of the Navistar International Corp., in Melrose Park just west of Chicago. Baker, a former employee of the company, was charged in September 1999 along with five others with conspiracy to commit theft, according to Beth Needles, a spokeswoman for the US Attorney’s office in Chicago. Ms Needles said he had pleaded guilty to the charge in November and had been sentenced to five months in jail followed by five months home confinement. He was scheduled to report to prison today. |
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HONG KONG, Feb 6 (DPA) — It’s one of the most notorious pests in the world. Hated for its ability to survive, infest, proliferate and spread germs. But the dreaded cockroach could become humankind’s ally in the fight against AIDS. Scientists in China were studying the creepy crawly in a bid to develop new drugs including ones which would help AIDS sufferers, a report from China’s official news agency Xinhua said on Tuesday. Researchers at the Medicinal faculty of Yunnan Dali Medical Academy claim to have extracted “three useful organic substances” from cockroaches. Further experiments at the Kunming Animals Research Institute showed one of these three organic substances was effective in resisting HIV — the virus which leads to AIDS. One of the researchers said although more clinical studies were needed, experiments so far had shown the cockroach substance to be about 10 per cent as effective as the drugs currently used to treat AIDS patients in the USA. Professor Li Shunan, head of the team which extracted the substances, first began studying the medical possibilities of the cockroach 14 years ago and has already developed a drug to heal skin wounds, the South China Morning Post reported. He told Xinhua his research was inspired by the practices of the Bai minority tribes in Yunnan province who have long used the cockroach to cure skin disease. |
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LOS ANGELES, Feb 6 (Reuters) — Actor tom cruise and his actress wife
Nicole Kidman, one of Hollywood’s best-known star couples, have said they have separated after more than a decade of marriage, citing the strains of their movie careers. A statement issued by their publicist said yesterday, “Citing the difficulties inherent in divergent careers which constantly keep them apart, they concluded that an amicable separation seem best.’’ The statement added that the couple retained their high respect for each other, “both personally and professionally.’’ Tom, 38, and Nicole, 33, were a show business dream team — each able to command top projects and top dollars for their work. She wowed stage audiences in
London and New York by appearing nude in the play The blue room and he has been nominated for Oscars three times. The couple met on the set of the 1990 racing car drama, Days of thunder,’’ with Tom saying that his first reaction “to meeting
NIC was sheer lust.’’ following a whirlwind courtship, they were married in a “top-secret’’
Christmas eve ceremony in telluride, Kolo., in 1990. The announcement by the couple, who spent more than 15 months making Stanley Kubrick’s final film, the erotic thriller, Eyes Wide Shut, took many by surprise as they have frequently denied reports of trouble in the marriage and have sued when newspapers published such reports or invaded their privacy. In 1998, they won a libel case against the daily express newspapers in
London for reporting that their “marriage was a sham.’’ they donated the libel damages to charity. |
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Russia to help in
LCA project MOSCOW, Feb 6 (PTI) — Russia is hopeful of cooperation with India in the serial production of light combat aircraft while accepting that New Delhi has proved indigenous technological prowess by its successful test flight last month. “The technology spin-off of the SU-30 MKI multi-role fighter developed in association with Indian experts could be widely used in India’s LCA project, and we are ready for jointly working in this direction”, Director-General of Sukhoi Mikhail Pogosyan said here before leaving for Aero-India 2001 airshow at the Yelahanska airbase near Bangalore. The LCA, which made its maiden flight last month, is a modern plane, and proves India’s capabilities, but requires the concentration of massive resources and skills before launching its serial production”, Mr Pogosyan said. Talking to the Indian newspersons here, officials of the MiG Corporation also expressed their readiness to share cutting edge technologies with India in developing LCA. Mr Pogosyan said after the launching of SU-30 MKI production at HAL, under the Russian license, the two countries could also move ahead with the joint development of a fifth generation fighter. According to media reports here, Russia is already considering to pool the resources of Sukhoi and MiG corporations to develop it. At the air show in Bangalore, Sukhoi will display the proto type of SU-30 MKI with thrust-vectoring, while MiG will display its carrier-based MiG-29K fighter, to be deployed by the Indian Navy after acquiring Kiev class aircraft carrier ‘Admiral Gorshkov’. “India and Russia could sign the deal for the purchase of 30 jets for the aircraft carrier in this year as negotiations on Admiral Gorshkov could be completed by March”, Chief Designer of ‘MiG 29K’ Nikolai Buntin said. |
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Pak SC questions military on elections ISLAMABAD, Feb 6 (Reuters) — Pakistan’s Supreme Court asked the 15-month-old military government today to state when it would hold elections to restore democracy. An 11-Judge Bench of the country’s top court made the demand when it began hearing an appeal from the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) party of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif against a court ruling that validated the October 1999 army coup. “You seek instructions (from the government) when are you going to hold elections and restore democracy,” Chief Justice Irshad Hasan Khan told main state lawyer Sharifuddin Pirzada. “We will hear you at 9.30 a.m. tomorrow,” he added. The PML appealed to the court to review its ruling in May last year that upheld the October 12, 1999, coup in which the Army Chief, General Pervez Musharraf, toppled Mr Sharif and seized power. |
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Gunmen kill 2 Shias KARACHI, Feb 6 (Reuters) — Two Shia activists were killed by masked gunmen in an overnight attack in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi, the police said here today. They said the unidentified attackers used automatic weapons to kill members of the Tehrik-i-Jafria party, the country’s main Shia organisation, outside a public telephone office. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack which was the latest in a series of tit-for-tat sectarian killings of rival members of majority Sunni and minority Shia Muslims in Pakistan. The latest attack followed the killing of five Sunni Muslim activists in Karachi on January 28 when gunmen ambushed a van carrying students and teachers to a Sunni seminary. |
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Wolfowitz named US Dy Defence Secy WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (PTI) — Continuing to rely on those who served his father when in the White House,
President George W. Bush today nominated Mr Paul Wolfowitz for Deputy Secretary of Defence. |
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