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March 20, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Sharif family makes first payment of exile deal Taliban slaughter cows on Omar’s order Awami League ‘ready’ for June 12 poll Socialists wrest Paris civic body 6 LTTE men killed in skirmish Israeli shot in West Bank EU bid to prevent war |
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Crackdown on
Hizb activists
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Sharif family makes first payment of exile deal Lahore, March 19 No one knows the details of the pact but reliable sources say the cash payment will be in addition to the industrial and non-industrial assets which are to be transferred to the government. The industrial assets include Hudaibya Paper Mills, Hudaibya Engineering and Hamza Spinning Mills, all situated off Raiwind Road. Documents had been signed by the family, but these were sent back to the owners residing in Riyadh for re-signing after some lacunae were detected. As soon as the documents are handed over, the takeover process will be completed. However only Hudaibya Engineering is in a working condition. The other two are non-functional. But no date for the transfer has yet been finalised. According to the deal, the onus lies on the Sharif family representative to hand over the possession without any legal bars. However, problems may arise with regard to the change of ownership of non-industrial assets. This is because the properties are still jointly shared by the rest of the family. Each of the seven families of the former Ittefaq Group possesses seven bungalows at Murree, out of which only two or three are likely to be surrendered. It is, however, still ambiguous whether they are to be taken over or not. As the properties happen to be not in the names of their respective owners legally, no decision about them is round the corner. Similarly, the property at 135, Upper Mall is in the possession of late Mian Bashir’s family which is occupying it as its head office. The property had been allocated to Mian Bashir’s family in the family settlement but legally two kanals are jointly in the name of the Ittefaq family while one kanal is in Nawaz Sharif’s own name. Some of the Ittefaq families had surrendered their claims on landed properties against appreciation of their claims in the allocation of industrial units. Those who had surrendered their claims may hand over the properties but not the others. Some of the cousins have already gone to court over the disputed properties. Others who hold possession of the allocated shares are not bothered. Meanwhile, estranged brothers of Nawaz Sharif have appealed for a return of their share in the jointly-owned property confiscated by the military government as part of the agreement under which the ex-premier was sent to exile. All of Nawaz’s properties were attached by the military government before he was allowed to go into exile in Saudi Arabia, where he is currently staying along with his wife and children. The appellants allege that the confiscation of their share in the property was “illegal and unconstitutional” and urged that the order should be suspended and revoked. They also termed the exile deal as “a fraud against the nation”. The estranged cousins have decided to move the Lahore High Court asking for their share of property. Sources close to the estranged cousins said that at least three of their families had been directly affected by last year’s confiscation of Sharif’s industrial and agricultural assets, which in no way can be handed over by an individual for settlement of his liabilities. The affected families have, therefore, decided to file a constitutional petition with the High Court under Article 199, praying that the confiscated assets be released to the extent of their shares.
ANI |
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Taliban slaughter cows on Omar’s order Kabul, March 19 The 12 cows were the first of 100 cows which were ordered to be killed throughout the country by the Taliban’s reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. He issued the order to slaughter the cows last weekend saying that they would be sacrificed because of the tardy demolition of a 51-metre and a 36-metre statues of Buddha hewn from a cliff face in the 3rd and 5th centuries. It took Taliban soldiers nearly two weeks to destroy the giant mountain carvings after an order was issued by Omar declaring the statues idolatrous and against the tenets of Islam. Shortly after sunrise today in the courtyard of the once grand presidential palace in the heart of Kabul, 20 men in blood-soaked shalwar kameezes, put the meat into bags for distribution throughout the war-ruined city. “We are doing this on the order of Omar because of the delay in the destruction of the statues,” said Abdullah, a Taliban soldier who like most Afghans uses only one name. Abdullah was supervising the slaughter and later the distribution. New Delhi: Activists of the Hindu Mahasabha on Monday burnt an effigy of Islamic extremism and a Pakistani flag to protest against the destruction of Buddhist statues in Afghanistan and Islamabad’s support to the Taliban regime. The slogan-shouting activists at Jantar Mantar here demanded military action against the Taliban militia, especially for their planned sacrifice of 100 cows to “atone for the delay in destroying the Buddhist statues.” They also urged the government to declare Pakistan an “enemy country.” Mahasabha president Dinesh Chandra Tyagi later led a march to Parliament which was stopped by the police at Parliament Street where a demonstration was held. Mr Tyagi later submitted separate memoranda to President K.R Narayanan and Home Minister L.K. Advani which also demanded a ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), deployment of the Army in Jammu and Kashmir, destruction of the terrorist training centres in PoK. The Hindu Mahasabha, in its national executive here, yesterday had deliberated on a number of national and international issues, including the Kanpur and Siwan riots, corruption in high places and the growing influence of Islamic fundamentalism.
AP, UNI |
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Awami League ‘ready’ for June 12 poll Dhaka, March 19 “The question of resignation does not arise since we have decided to go for early elections, showing respect to democracy,” she told party leaders and workers of northern Sherpur district at her official residence yesterday. BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia had demanded dissolution of Parliament and holding of elections in May. In response the Prime Minister said she was ready to hold polls by June 12. BSS news agency reported that Ms Hasina rather advised the Opposition to contribute to the process of smooth transition of power to the caretaker government for holding free and fair elections. She said her government wanted to see that the elections took place in the dry season enabling maximum participation of voters in the polls. Informed sources said the ruling Awami League would like to be sure about poll modalities and the shape of the new caretaker government before giving up office. Press reports also said that Ms Hasina would resign after settling these vital issues. Ms Hasina said “Instead of raising those issues, the Opposition is only demanding resignation of the government, which has created doubts in public mind as to whether the Opposition really wants election or not”.
PTI TNS adds: Poll strategists of major political parties of Bangladesh and the independent political analysts were busy assessing the poll prospects of parties in the forthcoming Parliament elections some time in the middle of this year. They are taking into consideration the data of the last two Parliament polls in Bangladesh — in 1991 and 1996. Both are important for various reasons. In the Parliament polls on February, 27, 1996, the present opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), won 140 seats, the largest number among 300 seats in the unicameral Parliament. The BNP formed the government with the support of 18 members of the fundamentalist Jamat-e-Islami (JI). Party Chairperson Khaleda Zia became the first woman Prime Minister of a predominantly Muslim country. The most significant change in the fifth Parliament constituted through this election was switching over to the parliamentary form of government from the presidential system. The Awami League with 88 legislators and its allies numbering 12 supported the Constitution Amendment Bill to switch over to the parliamentary form of government. The Awami League now enjoys a comfortable majority with 213 seats in the present Parliament, the strength which the BNP never had. A faction of the JP with 14 legislators and one JSD legislator support the AL government. Another faction of the JP led by the party chief, Mr Ershad has joined the four-party opposition alliance. The ruling party is likely to announce its plan of handing over power to a caretaker government at a public meeting on March 30. Before that the four-party alliance led by the BNP may announce an ultimatum to the government to resign by March 30, failing which the alliance will go for a continuous programme of agitation. It seems that the Awami League wants to show that they will not succumb to pressure by the Opposition and will step down as per their plan. The happy ending of the hostage crisis has given them a moral boost. Major developments regarding holding of Parliament polls are likely to happen in the last week of this month or in the first week of April. |
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Socialists wrest Paris civic body Paris, March 19 The Left also took Lyon, another longtime bastion of the Right, but suffered numerous losses in other cities where Mr Chirac’s camp made considerable gains. However, Paris, where Mr Chirac served as Mayor for 18 years, was the political plum. Bertrand Delanoe, the 50-year-old Paris leader of the Socialists, who defeated Conservative candidate Philippe Seguin, a former leader of Mr Chirac’s Rally for the Republic party (RPR) called his victory “choice for profound change”. In Lyon, Socialist Gerard Collomb was victorious, and will replace former Premier Raymond Barre. In Toulouse, centrist Philippe Douste-Blazy, defeated Francois Simon, a Socialist. Mr Chirac’s Right chalked up victories from Strasbourg, in the east, to Avignon, in the south, and Quimper in the west. Ministers in Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin’s government suffered humiliating defeats in Avignon, Montbelliard and Blois. Yesterday’s voting was for local councillors and mayors across the country that required a second-round runoff after there was no clear victor in the first round. France’s governing Socialists were left licking their wounds after a pounding in the provinces took the gloss off historic victories in Paris and Lyon in municipal elections. Newspaper commentators cautioned that Prime Minister Lionel Jospin’s Socialist-led coalition would lose office if the results of Sunday’s run-offs across France were repeated in legislative elections due in 2002. They forecast that conservative President Jacques Chirac would now fight tooth-and-nail to make sure next year’s vote for a new Parliament takes place before he runs for re-election in a race widely expected to pit him against Jospin. Jospin has manoeuvred in parliament to try to change the 2002 election calendar so that the presidential ballot is held first, sensing the switch would boost his own and his government’s chances of victory. The vote also badly weakened Jospin’s Communist coalition partners while rewarding the resurgent Greens in his alliance, prompting speculation that Jospin could now be forced into another cabinet reshuffle to reflect the shifting balance. “This is a good local result in Paris, it is a good local result in Lyon, and then we have also had some failures which we are going to have to think about,” Jospin said as he went to congratulate his friend Bertrand Delanoe for winning Paris. The unassuming Delanoe, one of France’s few openly gay politicians, led a united left slate to victory in the French capital, where the right had held sway since 1871. Final results gave the alliance under Delanoe, an unassuming 50-year-old senator, 92 of the 163 seats on the Paris council though it fell just short of a majority of the popular vote. AP, Reuters |
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6 LTTE men killed in skirmish Colombo, March 19 Troops attacked the rebel bunkers in Nagarkovil area in northern Jaffna peninsula on Saturday night with machine-guns and small arms, forcing the rebels, who retaliated initially, to vacate them, a military situation report said. Three soldiers were also wounded in the confrontation, it said. Elsewhere in the peninsula, the LTTE fired 120 mm mortars at the defence line at Arialai East yesterday, but there were no casualties, it said. One soldier was wounded in an anti-personnel mine explosion near a road picket at Chavachcheri, it added. In the east, an army deserter was arrested after he shot at and injured a civilian at Pumoddai in Trincomalee district. The soldier had deserted the Arisamalai camp with a T56 weapon. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan police said today that they had foiled a plot by the LTTE to assassinate a top Tamilian politician who also led the country’s largest labour union. The suspect, Joseph Selvaraj revealed the plot on Friday after having been arrested by the Police Special Unit a few months ago on suspicion of being a member of the banned rebel group, state-owned newspaper, Daily News said today.
PTI |
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Israeli shot in West Bank Jerusalem, March 19 The victim was hit by several bullets and lost control of his car which crashed into a truck, the radio said. It did not state whether he was a settler. Washington: Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon will be looking to US President George W. Bush to endorse his cautious approach to peacemaking with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat when they meet at the White House tomorrow. In a sharp scaling back from the euphoric approach of his predecessor, Mr Ehud Barak, the new Israeli leader is offering Mr Arafat a series of non-belligerency accords conditioned on strong and public moves by the Palestinian leader to halt Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians. The White House is also taking a new approach to the West Asia diplomacy, with the President more an observer than a mediator.
AP, AFP |
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EU bid to prevent war Brussels, March 19 In an unprecedented move, they invited NATO Secretary General George Robertson to join them at midday to see how the EU and the alliance might synchronise their actions. Speaking a breakfast meeting with Macedonian Foreign Minister Srdjan Kerim, Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh reiterated the European Union’s support for Skopje against ethnic Albanian “extremists.” “We do not accept any violence, and our support for the (Macedonian) government is very clear,” she told reporters alongside Kerim and EU foreign policy high representative Javier Solana, who was to travel later in the day to Skopje. Sweden currently holds the agenda-setting EU presidency. AFP |
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House of Lords refuses Nadeem’s extradition London, March 19 The Upper House of British Parliament upheld the London High Court decision against Nadeem’s extradition in the 1997 murder case and turned down a plea by the Indian Government seeking review of the decision. “The Appeals Committee has considered this petition and decided that it should be refused,” an official communication received by the solicitor of the music director said. The high court on December 21 upheld nadeem’s petition against the bow street magistrate’s court which had ordered his extradition to India for standing trial in the case. Reacting to the decision, Nadeem told PTI yesterday “I am very happy that the final court of judgement in Britain, the House of Lords, has declared me innocent.” Asked whether he would be returning to Mumbai, he said “not in the near future.” “If the Government of India invites me honourably and drops all charges I may consider,” he said, adding that “but the greater question is who will give me back the financial loss, pain and suffering
I and my family have undergone for the past four years.”
PTI |
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Lashkar to step up attacks in Kashmir Karachi, March 19 “All our targets will be non-civilian,” Yahya Mujahid, spokesman for the Lashkar-e-Toiba, told Reuters by telephone from Lahore. “Our volunteers are ready for Fudayeen attacks anywhere in India, it may be occupied areas or New Delhi.” The Lashkar-e-Toiba, which is among a dozen militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir is one of the three Pakistan-based militant groups designated as terrorist by the British Government late last month. The group has often used suicide squads against military targets in Kashmir. |
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Crackdown on Hizb activists Islamabad, March 19 The Hizbul Mujahideen was to organise the conference yesterday at Risalpur in Naushehra district but the district authorities used force to prevent the Hizb supporters from holding the conference said the Urdu daily, Jasrat. The newspaper said police not only stopped convoys but also beat up Hizbul workers. However, despite the police action, the Hizbul succeeded in holding the conference, it added. PTI
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