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| Tuesday,
April 3, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Maoists kill
35 cops in Nepal China’s rule on Tibet harsher:
Dalai Hasina not to oblige
strikers
LTTE-Govt pact on aid for Wanni |
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USA seeks contact with crew Serbia awaits US
aid Weapons captured from the residence of former President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade are stacked up against a wall during a press conference by the Serbian Interior Ministry on Monday. An arsenal of weapons was found at the residence and several persons arrested. Three-way talks only solution: Hizb Rebels threaten to
behead US hostage
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Maoists kill 35
cops in Nepal Kathmandu, April 2 Three attackers were killed in the clashes around police posts in western and central Nepal, they added. Home Ministry spokesman Gopendra Bahadur Pandey said 30 officers were killed at rukumkot in Rukum district in western Nepal overnight when suspected rebels fighting against the Himalayan kingdom’s constitutional monarchy attacked a police post. “Thirty bodies have been recovered from the site of the clash,” Pandey told newsmen. Earlier, a police official said the attackers had overwhelmed security personnel in the remote village in the kingdom’s western Himalayan foothills. He said a further 14 wounded policemen had been evacuated to hospitals in Kathmandu and neighbouring Nepalgunj. Another five policemen and three suspected rebels died in a gunbattle at Dolakha district in central Nepal, he added. The Maoists started their low-intensity but sustained campaign from a couple of remote and poor villages on the Himalayan foothills of impoverished Nepal. The rebellion has now spread to more than 30 of the kingdom’s 75 administrative districts. Both the government and the rebels have accused each other of lacking seriousness for peace dialogue. In November last year efforts to kickstart peace talks to end the violence failed. More than 1,550 people, have been killed in the violence so far. A high-level police team and Home Minister Ram Chandra Paudel were rushing to the area, the source added. The bombs caused heavy damage to the office and cut off phone connections. The Maoist insurgents are also thought to have planted a series of timed devices which went off in and around the capital today but no reports of casualties have been received so far. The source said the first bomb went off at the entrance of the home of former Inspector-General of Police Achyut Krishna Kharel at Dhumbarahi, north-east of the capital. A device also exploded at the cowshed of ruling Nepali Congress (NC) lawmaker Lekhnath Neupane at Bhaktapur city, 16 km east of Kathmandu.
Reuters, AFP |
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China’s rule on Tibet harsher:
Dalai Taipei, April 2 “The central government of the People’s Republic of China, their thinking (is) becoming more hardline,” the bespectacled, saffron-robed monk told Taiwan’s Parliament on the third day of his 10-day visit. “There is sometimes a little change, but basically thinking very hardliner,” he said, speaking under a giant portrait of the late founder of the Chinese republic Sun Yat-sen. “So for the moment, things are getting worse and worse.” China said on Sunday the Dalai Lama’s visit to Taiwan was driven by separatist political motives he shares with Taipei. “The Dalai’s second Taiwan trip will certainly be a political visit for collaborating with Taiwan independence forces to separate the motherland,” state-run Xinhua news agency said. In comments today, the Dalai Lama steered clear of making direct reference to China’s accusation, although he reiterated his visit to Taiwan was a spiritual one. “My profession is just Buddhist philosophy, nothing else — from that way, I always try to promote human values,” he said. The Dalai Lama will meet President Chen Shui-bian of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party on Thursday. His visit has inflamed political and religious passions on the island of 23 million, with advocates and opponents of Taiwan’s independence from China taking to the streets on the day he arrived. Beijing has threatened to attack if Taiwan declared independence or dragged its feet on unification talks. Western human rights groups have accused China of seeking to destroy Tibetan religion and culture. Beijing denies the charges, saying it is seeking to lift the region out of poverty. “This sort of sad situation is neither good for Tibet nor for the People’s Republic of China. So this is something like mutual misery,” the globetrotting monk said. “ The Tibetan side (is) now actually facing the threat of extinction.” He lamented about the lack of trust between Tibetans and Chinese. “The present situation is very bad for stability and unity,” he said. The Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his peaceful campaign for autonomy, said Tibet’s plight would have been averted if Beijing had pursued the reform-minded policies of late Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang. “In early 80s, when Hu Yaobang was there,” the Dalai Lama said, “things (were) getting very hopeful.” Hu was sacked in 1987 after being accused by hardliners of allowing “bourgeois liberalism” — Western democratic ideas — to spread unchecked. He died in 1989, sparking student-led demonstrations for democracy centred around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Reuters |
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Hasina not to oblige strikers Dhaka, April 2 The strike is aimed at forcing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed from power and paving the way for early election — currently not due before July 13. Police used tear gas and batons to disperse hundreds of Opposition activists from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) who threw crude home-made bombs and rocks at security officials in the Paltan area, witnesses said. At least 15 activists were injured, they said, adding that police detained about 10 activists. The police said security had been tightened after one man was killed and over 200 were injured in widespread strike-related violence during the weekend. The three-day strike called by Opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia started early on Sunday and is due to end on Tuesday evening. BNP chief Khaleda — who also heads a four-party Opposition alliance — called the strike to give what she said was a final blow to Hasina, who ignored an Opposition deadline to resign in March to make way for a general election. Hasina said she would rule till her current term expires on July 13. The strike disrupted the country’s main port in Chittagong, halted trade on the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges and stopped most road transport. Public and private road transports were paralysed, banks and stores downed shutter and schools and other educational institutions closed across the country after overnight violence left one person dead and about 100 injured. More than 240 activists of the BNP-led alliance were arrested amid clashes between security forces and pickets in Dhaka and three other cities yesterday. A spokesman said train and plane service ran normally but that attendance at government offices was down. The dispute over the timing of the election between the Centre-Left government and the opposition led by BNP chief has escalated political tensions in the country and threatened the fragile democracy. Bangladesh $66 million each day in lost production and exports.
Reuters, DPA |
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LTTE-Govt pact on aid for Wanni Colombo, April 2 “As a part of the agreement of understanding between the government and the
LTTE, it (humanitarian assistance) might start any moment”, Mr Kadirgamar told the state-run ‘The Daily News’. “This will be part of the agreement of understanding between the two parties, but will definitely not be a pre-condition to peace talks. This is a separate exercise”, the minister said. Mr Kadirgamar’s announcement has raised many eyebrows since he is a known opponent of the idea.
UNI USA seeks contact with crew Beijing, April 2 “It is inexplicable and unacceptable and of great concern to the most senior US government leaders that the aircrew has been held incommunicado for over 32 hours and the Chinese have so far given no explanation for holding the crew,” US Ambassador to China Admiral (retd) Joseph Prueher told reporters here. Expressing serious concern over the delay in communicating with the 24-member crew of the EP-3 plane, Mr Prueher said “Resolving this issue is in the interest of both our nations, we expect a speedy resolution.”
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Serbia awaits US aid Belgrade, April 2 Milosevic, blamed by the West for a decade of Balkan wars, was jailed early on Sunday morning after a 36-hour armed stand-off with the reformists who ousted him last October. He was taken to jail as a US deadline for Yugoslavia to start cooperating with the United Nations war crimes court or risk losing vital economic assistance expired on March 31. At stake is $50 million in US aid for this year as well as US support for a $260 million loan from the International Monetary Fund to support reform of an economy on the verge of a collapse following years of sanctions and warfare. Yugoslav media, including dailies once used as mouthpieces by the former President covered the drama in vivid detail. “The dictator turned himself in,”Vecernje Novosti said. The newspaper, in the past tightly controlled by the Milosevic government, said he was now in a six-square-metre (65-sq-ft) cell in Belgrade’ central prison. It said his belt, watch and personal documents were taken from him. “He was given a bed sheet, a pillow case, two blankets and a meal,” Vecernje Novosti said. The independent daily Danas said Milosevic stayed on the jail’s floor with party comrades arrested before him. “An the end of the day, no court in the country or even The (U.N.) Hague Tribunal will be able to punish Milosevic enough for the damage he has done to this country during his reign in power,” said Danas, fined repeatedly in the Milosevic era. The toppled leader could get five to 15 years if convicted of diverting over $100 million in customs funds to feather the nest of his Socialist Party and maintain his grip on power. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of diverting state funds and was remanded in custody in Belgrade’s central prison for the customary 30-day investigation period. Western government welcomed the arrest as a first step towards bringing Milosevic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague to face charges of crime against humanity. Serbia’s reformist leaders said priority was justice at home for Milosevic’s domestic crimes, insisting that they would have to introduce a new law before considering “extradition”. Milosevic’s defence lawyer, Toma Fila, said yesterday that his client was depressed, on tranquilisers, and scarcely able to believe what had befallen him over the dramatic weekend. Fila planned to lodge a request common to have the 59-year-old ex-President of Yugoslavia set free pending his investigation on charges of stealing state funds. But he said he did not seriously expect the
application would be granted. Reuters |
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Three-way talks only solution: Hizb Muzaffarabad, April 2 “We have categorically told New Delhi that only three-way talks could help find a solution to this problem,” said Salim Hashmi, spokesman for Kashmir’s largest guerrilla group, the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. Hashmi dismissed Home Minister L.K. Advani’s offer of dialogue to Kashmiri leaders as an attempt to hoodwink the international community. Speaking in an interview on the British Broadcasting Corporation’s “Hardtalk” programme, which will be aired on Wednesday, Mr Advani said India would hold talks with separatist leaders “perhaps as early as May.” However, he ruled out talks with Pakistan and said the talks would be held with Kashmiri groups in India. “Mr Advani’s announcement is nothing but farce, just like India’s so-called ceasefire,” Mr Hashmi said. The Hizb spokesman said no lasting solution could be reached by ignoring Islamabad. Another Kashmiri outfit, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, said India was trying to mislead the world community by making “sham” announcements . “India is not serious about a peaceful resolution of the festering Kashmir problem,” Harkat spokesman Amiruddin Mughal said. Had it been serious in holding talks, it would not have obstructed the Hurriyat’s visit to Pakistan, he said. “Any talks in which Islamabad and all Mujahideen groups do not participate are worthless and a waste of time,” Mughal said.
AFP |
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Rebels threaten to
behead US hostage Zamboanga City (Philippines), April 2 Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya said only Saudia Arabian Ambassador to Manila Al Ghamby could save 24-year-old Jeffrey Schilling, who was kidnapped in August last year on Jolo island, Sulu province, 1,000 km south of Manila. “At exactly 5 p.m. local time (2.30 p.m. IST) on Thursday, schilling will be beheaded and that is our birthday gift to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,’’ Sabaya said in a telephone interview with a local radio station in nearby Zamboanga city. “Schilling is seriously sick, but we have decided to kill him and offer his head as a gift to President Arroyo,’’ he added. Sabaya said the Philippine Government should send Saudi Arabian Ambassador Al Ghamby to talk to the rebel group 72 hours before the scheduled execution to save Schilling, a resident of Oakland, California, noting that “he is the only person who could save Schilling.” Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said today she had ordered the armed forces to launch an “all-out war’’ against Islamic rebels who have threatened to behead a US hostage. “They will be annihilated,’’ she said when asked what her government would do if the fundamentalist Abu Sayyaf group carried out its threat and present his head to Ms Arroyo as their birthday present to her.
Reuters |
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Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic woke up in a prison cell on Monday as his country waited to see whether Washington would consider his dramatic arrest enough to avert a cutoff in the crucial US aid.
