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Thursday,
April 5, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Return crew, no apology: Bush Hasina renews offer to quit Estrada indicted for plunder,
graft Bill to withdraw
sanctions moved |
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Moscow newsmen fume at TV takeover USA apologises to
Japan Hand over Milosevic
immediately: Hague India rules out early SAARC summit SC reserves order on Benazir’s plea 3 Indian labourers die on inhaling gases
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Return crew, no apology: Bush Washington, April 4 The USA ruled out an apology for the incident despite China’s demands for one, and for the first time referred to the crew as having been detained. “This accident has the potential of undermining our hopes for a fruitful and productive relationship between our two countries,” said Mr Bush yesterday,in a sign he was losing patience. He appeared before reporters to reassure Americans the 21 men and three women of the EP-3 surveillance plane that landed on China’s Hainan island on Sunday were in good health, uninjured and had not been mistreated. He spoke after the US defence attache in China, Neal Sealock, met with the crew, which had been held incommunicado. Our approach has been to keep this accident from becoming an international incident. We have allowed the Chinese Government time to do the right thing. But now it is time for our servicemen and women to return home and it is time for the Chinese Government to return our plane,” Mr Bush said. US officials had no indication when the Chinese might free the crew to go free and release the EP-3 surveillance plane for repairs so it can be flown off Hainan island. It landed there after a mid-air collision with Chinese fighter that had been shadowing it on a regular mission across the South China Sea. The Chinese pilot is still missing. At the State Department, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage summoned China’s Ambassador to the USA, Yang Jiechi, to add pressure on the Chinese. Bush and his aides were taking a low-key approach to their first foreign policy crisis, keeping the rhetoric from overheating. Bush did not call Chinese President Jiang Zemin. “We believe there is a diplomatic solution to this incident and not a military one,” said Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman. Bush said Brigadier Gen Sealock told him the crew members “are in good health, they suffered no injuries and they have not been mistreated. I know this is a relief to their loved ones, and to all Americans.” “Our crew members expressed their faith in America, and we have faith in them. They send their love to their families. They said they are looking forward to coming home, and we are looking forward to bringing them home,” he said. Officials said the crew members were being held in a hostel, two to a room, on the Hainan Island air base except for the pilot, who was being held solo. BEIJING: Chinese President Jiang Zemin on Wednesday repeated a call for an American apology for a mid-air collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter. Jiang, quoted by the official Xinhua news agency, made his call as he left for a state visit to South America. “The USA should apologise to the Chinese for this incident and bear all responsibilities for the consequence of the incident,” Jiang said. Mr Jiang, who will visit six South American countries, also ordered the search for the missing Chinese pilot to continue “at all price”, Xinhua said. Some Beijing-based diplomats saw significance in the fact that Jiang did not postpone his trip amid the standoff. The pilot of the Chinese fighter, Wang Wei, is still missing. China had 29 ships and 37 planes combing the waters off the southern island province of Hainan in the search for the missing pilot, Xinhua said. HAIKOU: The USA on Wednesday pressed for a second meeting with 24 detained crew members of the US plane. A US diplomat said they were trying to arrange the meeting through the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Haikou, capital of the tropical island province of Hainan.
Reuters |
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Bush may call
off trip Washington, April 4 “I don’t think I would say that yet,” said Mr Powell when asked if the incident could derail Mr Bush’s planned visit to Beijing in October. “Let’s see how this unfolds,” he went on to tell reporters aboard his plane returning to Washington from Key West, Florida. “But it’s certainly ... not helping our relationship at this point.”
AFP |
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Hasina renews offer to quit Dhaka, April 4 Her renewed offer came yesterday, the third day of the continuous three days of the countrywide shutdown enforced by the opposition four-party alliance led by her arch rival Ms Khaleda Zia , Chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), demanding immediate resignation of the Awami League government. The alliance leader had refused to accept the suggestion by the country’s President Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed to sit for a dialogue. Ms Sheikh Hasina reiterated three of her six conditions put a week ago for an early poll. She remarked that the Opposition has to a) sit for dialogue with the government for fixing a poll date, formation of a caretaker government and settle related issues so that the Opposition cannot back out after the AL government quits power b) the Opposition has to promise to the nation that they will participate in the coming poll and c) will not announce anymore shutdown programmes. Ms Hasina pledged that even if she were in the Opposition in future, her party would not enforce shutdown, which resulted in loss of life and property. The Opposition however, did not relent. Few hours later the four-party alliance announced last night its programme of three more days (72 hours) of, continuous countrywide strike from April 9 in pursuance of their demand of governments resignation. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister in her speech in the parliament also called upon the people to build up resistance against ‘unnecessary’ shutdown programmes by the Opposition. Political observers felt that this might lead to violence on the streets because the Opposition always tried to stop plying of transports in the urban areas and on highways. Such violence during the 60-hour strike ending yesterday evening resulted in death of six persons. A bomb thrown on a stationary truck killed its driver on the spot at Feni, a district town, a student was run over by another truck when he tried to stop the vehicle at Mirersharai on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, a rickshawpuller died at the hospital after he was severely hurt by a crude bomb thrown by pro-strike agitators, a young passenger of a bus succumbed to injuries he received in a bomb blast thrown on the bus he was travelling on Monday, a police source was killed in another incident when he was helping a police officer in defusing a home made bomb at Brahmanbaria district town and yesterday a man was gunned down in a clash between the ruling party and the Opposition activists at Munshiganj district town. More than a hundred have been hospitalised with injuries in clashes between rival sides or with the police in many places. The police has taken into custody more than 300 opposition activists. This figure does not include more than five hundred opposition supporters arrested by the police before the strike began. Fortunately, there were no clashes between the supporters of the ruling party and the opposition in Dhaka. Ms Hasina, however, reiterated her governments’ decision to continue in power till the formation of a caretaker government after July 13, the last day of the term and only then they will hand over to the caretaker government. The caretaker government will hold polls within 90 days, which means by the third week of October. She had earlier, proposed to hold poll by June 12, which the Opposition rejected. The resolution of the impasse due to the rigid opposing stands taken by the ruling party and the Opposition is not in sight. However, the trade bodies led by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry in a joint statement yesterday urged both sides to resolve the crisis through dialogue. |
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Estrada indicted for plunder,
graft Manila, April 4 Government ombudsman Aniano Desierto filed the eight charges before an anti-graft court, which must now decide whether the disgraced former movie star has a case to answer. Mr Desierto said Estrada “was found to have taken advantage of his official position and influence to amass ill-gotten wealth in the amount of 4.098 billion pesos ($82 million).” Estrada, who denies any wrongdoing, rejected the charges. “These are fabricated charges,” he told reporters before flying out of Manila on a small jet to the central Philippines to campaign for his party’s candidates in May elections to the legislature. The filing of the cases followed a drawn-out and acrimonious legal battle between the government and Estrada, who had contended he was still the country’s legitimate President and therefore immune from prosecution. Yesterday, the Supreme Court dealt Estrada a crushing blow by upholding the legitimacy of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and stripping the disgraced leader of his immunity. Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo announced she had placed Manila international airport and other air and seaports around the country “on double alert to prevent the possible departure from the country of former President Estrada”. An immigration commision statement said the Supreme Court decision on Tuesday had “fuelled speculation that Estrada might leave the country to elude arrest and prosecution.” Estrada, who was ousted in a people’s power revolt in January, denied he had plans to flee. “I was born here, I lived here, I’ll die here. I’ll never leave the country,” he said. “I will have to exhaust all legal remedies,” he replied, when asked how he would prove his innocence. “Sad to say, there’s no rule of law in this country... I am so frustrated. I don’t think I’ll get a fair trial,” he added. Plunder is a capital, non-bailable offence and the filing of the case against him laid the former president open to arrest. But issuing an arrest warrant involves legal technicalities and could take days to resolve, court officials said. Besides plunder, the ombudsman’s office, in court documents, accused Estrada and three others, including son Jinggoy a town mayor, of receiving 545 million pesos in bribes from illegal gambling syndicates. No one in the Philippines has been convicted of plunder. It also accused the former president of forcing two state pension funds to buy shares in property and gaming firm Belle Corp for a commission of 189 million pesos and of attempting to persuade stock exchange officials to clear a friend of stock price manipulation charges. Estrada, along with his wife and son, allegedly pocketed 130 million pesos of excise taxes intended for tobacco farmers, the charges said. Estrada’s wife, Luisa, is running for the Senate. The ombudsman also accused Estrada of perjury and illegal use of an alias by keeping his supposedly ill-gained wealth in a bank account under an assumed name.
Reuters |
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Bill to withdraw sanctions moved Washington, April 4 Observers feel the step is timed to coincide with the arrival of Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh to Washington tomorrow. The move by India caucus members to club India with Pakistan together has hurt the sentiments of the Indian American community but sources close to Congressmen said since sanctions were imposed on both countries simultaneously the lifting of them too would progress in the same way. The sources also explained that once the sanctions against India were lifted, New Delhi could straightway resume normal ties with Washington while Islamabad had several hurdles to cross, like the Pressler amendment and the military dictatorship ruling that country, which could come in the way of restoration of normalcy in relationship. Moving the Bill Mr Mcdermott said the relationship between India and the USA had become one of the most significant emerging relationships in the world. “We are logical partners on a very wide range of issues and these sanctions only slow the development of that relationship.” Terming the sanctions against India as counterproductive to US efforts to engage India, Republican member Ed Royce said as India was the largest country in the south Asian region, it was critical that the USA build upon the momentum and continued to strengthen its strategic relationship with it. It was a bipartisan foreign policy that “we are trying to develop with India that focuses on trade, investment and security.”
UNI |
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Moscow newsmen fume at TV takeover Moscow, April 4 NTV dropped its usual programme of soap operas, films and light entertainment and showed a caption in stark white letters explaining that “in protest at the illegal attempt to change the board of NTV, only news programmes will be broadcast”. The network accused the Kremlin of orchestrating a boardroom coup by Gazprom, which saw its allies take key positions and oust NTV’s founder Vladimir Gusinsky. The media magnate, fighting extradition from Spain on fraud charges he says are part of the clampdown on his media, has tried to stall Gazprom’s takeover plans by attracting international investment in NTV. CNN quoted a source as saying Turner and Gusinsky had clinched an outline deal. Gusinsky’s Media-Most holding company said it had no details of the accord, but the Washington Post cited sources as saying it was worth $225 million. Alexander Kazakov, a senior Gazprom executive, told reporters the gas giant welcomed talks on the purchase of a large stake in NTV by a foreign investor, as long as no one group enjoyed majority control of the station. NTV is by far the most influential source of information outside Kremlin control. President Vladimir Putin, hosting an official visit by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, made no comment on the controversy, widely seen as a test of his tolerance of dissent. Ex-Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, who heads an NTV standards watchdog, said he had tried to contact Putin but he was busy. “But I will shortly get in contact with him or speak to him,” Interfax quoted him as saying. NTV journalists spent all night at the station, based at Moscow’s Ostankino television tower, fearing Gazprom’s media arm would try to impose the new management team by force. The arrival of three policemen, broadcast live by NTV, created a flurry of excitement, but police only said they wanted crowds at NTV’s entrance to move back. Press Minister Mikhail Lesin later ruled out any strong-arm police action. Turner’s representatives have already visited Moscow to investigate buying into NTV and CNN’s report cited a source as saying the two men had struck an “outline” deal, under which Turner would receive most of Gusinsky’s holdings. A spokesman for the Atlanta-based cable news network told newsmen that Turner was acting outside his role as vice chairman of AOL Time Warner, the parent company of CNN. The Washington Post said in a report on its website that Turner was to buy into Media-Most, Gusinsky’s holding company with a stake in NTV. More than 10,000 NTV supporters gathered at the weekend in one of the largest demonstrations Moscow has seen in years. Organisers said a similar protest could be held this weekend.
Reuters |
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USA apologises to Japan
Tokyo, April 4 Mr James Foster, acting Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Tokyo, yesterday told the Foreign Ministry the Navy had mistakenly informed the Japanese authorities that the submarine would stay outside the bay, and called the blunder inexcusable, said a ministry official on condition of anonymity. The USS Chicago’s unannounced stop at Sasebo, 982 km southwest of Tokyo, was the first violation of a 1964 bilateral accord that requires the US military to give 24-hour notice before a nuclear-powered sub docks in a Japanese port. The notice gives time for the local authorities to check radioactivity levels in ports before and after US submarine visits. A US Embassy official, who also sought anonymity, said the USA regretted the miscommunication and would take steps to prevent a recurrence. He would not confirm whether Mr Foster apologised and refused to elaborate. AP |
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Hand over Milosevic
immediately: Hague The Hague, April 4 “There is no impediment and nothing to stop us stating once again the point that the transfer is the result of a non-negotiable obligation and it must happen immediately,” Mr Jean-Jacques Joris, political adviser to the chief prosecutor, told reporters at the Hague tribunal. Yesterday, Mr Joris had told Reuters that prosecutors were prepared to wait a few months for Milosevic’s arrival, provided that Yugoslavia committed itself to handing over its former President and stepped up its arrests of other suspects. However, today he said the situation in Yugoslavia was calm, and that statements from Belgrade suggested a body of support for Milosevic’s transfer. Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has so far ruled out any immediate surrender of Milosevic to The Hague. He had said Milosevic’s transfer to the tribunal was not on the agenda for now. Mr Stephane Bourgon of the tribunal president’s office said the fact that Milosevic faced charges in Belgrade gave a special character to his case, but that did not prevent him being handed over immediately. Joris agreed. “Serbian investigations can go on while Milosevic is here,” he said. Later, the tribunal’s registrar, Hans Holthuis, was due to fly to Belgrade for a three-day visit. Holthuis is expected to meet Yugoslav Justice Minister Momcilo Grubac, his Serbian counterpart Vladan Batic and Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic. Tribunal officials said Holthuis was travelling as registrar simply to set out to the Belgrade authorities the practical steps they have to take in their process of cooperation.
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India rules out early SAARC summit Dubai, April 4 “Conditions are not ripe for convening a SAARC summit...You can’t hold discussions with someone who is pointing his gun on your head”, Minister of State for External Affairs K.V. Krishnam Raju told reporers here last night on the sidelines of a reception organised in his honour by the Indian Association, Dubai. However, he stated that India had agreed to the convening of a meeting of senior officials of the seven SAARC countries in Nepal next month. Mr Raju also made it clear that India would oppose any attempt by Pakistan to become a member of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) at the grouping’s two-day regular ministerial meeting, beginning in Muscat on April 7.
UNI |
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SC reserves order on Benazir’s plea Islamabad, April 4 The seven-member Bench is likely to announce its judgement by the end of this week after state counsel S.M. Zafar files his written arguments in reply to Mr Abdul Hafeez Pirzada’s arguments on Friday. |
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Indian labourers die on inhaling gases Dubai, April 4 The daily quoted a civil defence official saying the first of the four unidentified men went down a 2.5-metre deep manhole yesterday and was quickly knocked out by the fumes.
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