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| Sunday,
April 29, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Lankan army suffers major setback
USA ‘behind’ AIDS
scourge Tito is first space tourist
Scribes demand
politicians’ arrest |
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Musharraf defends ties with
Taliban US concern over
arrests Pakistani battleships
in Myanmar Pak N-scientist
‘embezzled’ money’ Amnesty flays
Punjab Govt Woman confined at
home for 7 years
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Lankan army suffers major setback Colombo, April 28 “Initially, troops advanced very successfully and captured forward areas, but due to very heavy artillery and mortar fire by the terrorists, the troops had to be redeployed in the original defence line, as preparation of new defence line would have given battle advantage, but cost more in terms of lives,” the military said in a special press note issued here. A total of nearly 350 lives were lost in the three day battle for territory towards the strategic Elephant Pass, with the rebels said to have lost nearly 190 fighters. Forces engaged in Operation Agni Khiela I, launched early Wednesday, were successful in achieving their main aim of destroying LTTE deployments that posed an immediate threat to the defence lines at Eluthumadduvaland Muhamalai, it said. It was confirmed that about 190 LTTE combatants were killed and over 400 others were injured in the fierce fighting that lasted three days but the casualties could be higher, as most of their cadres were used, it said. Among the security personnel, five of the 157 killed were officers. “The secondary aim of the operation in expanding the control areas had to be changed,” the military said, in an indirect admission that it failed to consolidate on the opening day’s gains when it managed to capture some 8 sq km of territory south of Eluthumadduval and Kilaly in the south Jaffna peninsula. The military claimed that the operation pre-empted LTTE plans to conduct a major attack on the security forces in the peninsula. Taking into account “the weapons systems and facilities they had brought to the Elephant Pass sector, it was obvious that the LTTE was poised to launch a major operation.” Most of the military casualties were due to heavy use of artillery and mortars by the rebel forces, apart from the extensive use of anti-personnel mines to prohibit their movements. Meanwhile, reports from the battlefront said the pullback was mainly due to the fact that two army divisions, which advanced from Eluthumadduval and Kilaly, failed to achieve a planned link-up in the LTTE-held territory, and had to go back to the positions they were occupying prior to the latest operation, the sources said. The LTTE admitted 48 deaths in the conflict, while claiming to have killed over 300 armymen and left over a thousand wounded. It has contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross to return the bodies of about 30 soldiers it had recovered from the battle ground. With the forces returning to their original positions, the three-day operation had not added any territory to what the army was controlling since it expanded its control by about 8 sq km in the two-stage ‘Operation Kinihira IX’ in January. The latest offensive began within hours of the LTTE calling off its four-month-long unilateral ceasefire with effect from April 25 midnight. President Chandrika Kumaratunga, in a statement posted on the government website yesterday, reiterated her commitment to the peace process, but declared that calling a ceasefire was irrelevant to the commencement of direct talks with the LTTE. However, Catholic Bishops who called on the LTTE’s political wing chief S P Tamil Chelvam a few days ago say the LTTE is extremely concerned over the outbreak of fresh hostilities and feels that the government may not be committed to a political settlement. “We are seeking an appointment with the President to convey this point of view,” Rev Malcolm Ranjith, the Bishop of Ratnapura, said. He said he would be leading a 1000-strong delegation of Tamils and Sinhalese to the Church of Our Lady of Madhu in Mannar district in north-western Sri Lanka in support of the peace process and call on people living in the refugee camps. With the latest round of hostilities coming to an end, and the LTTE underscoring that its four-month ceasefire had not weakened it militarily, the stage may be set for formal resumption of preliminary discussions to get the Norway-facilitated peace process going, diplomatic sources said.
PTI |
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USA ‘behind’ AIDS scourge Abuja (Nigeria), April 28 Mr Gaddafi said the USA’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) held the vaccine, but argued that the disease had been used as a weapon. “The Western countries say AIDS came from African monkeys, but monkeys have been around for along time, so why not AIDS?” he reasoned. ‘Africa must take on its responsibilities against this exploitation with courage, and hold into its diamonds, its gold and its petrol,” he added. Meanwhile Africa leaders signed a declaration urging a boost in spending on the fight against the AIDS pandemic, while emphasising the need for affordable drugs to treat the millions infected on the continent. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, speaking yesterday at the close of the two-day summit, called the agreement the “end of the beginning and beginning of the end” of HIV’s spread in Africa, where 2.6 crore people are infected. The document calls on the 53 African states to “target” spending an eventual 15 per cent of national budgets on health programmes, including a significant proporation on AIDS. Extra funds should also be provided in AIDS education, training and research programmes, the document says. Most African countries’ health spending does not exceed 5 per cent to 7 per cent of their budget. The declaration gave no time-limit for the new spending target. The document also encouraged African government to use “appropriate legislation and international trade regulations” to provide affordable and effective AIDS drugs to those infected with the disease. The virus has killed 2.3 crore people globally, including 1.7 crore in sub-Saharan Africa. Former US President Bill Clinton, who attended the summit in a private capacity, estimated that up to 10 crore more people could die in the next decade unless the spread of the disease was stemmed. Some summit observers said the declaration was significantly watered down from a preliminary version hammered out by African ministers earlier in the week. The final document did not mention a proposal to import and produce controversial generic “copycat” HIV drugs to make treatment affordable to Africans. “The devil is in the details,” said Mr Babar Hashmi, a Pakistan Government official who was an invited observer at the summit. “The conference participants had very laudable goals, but let us see how well they will be able to implement them,” he said.
AFP, AP |
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Tito is first space tourist Baikonur (Kazakhstan), April 28 The launch took place uneventfully after Russian and US space officials agreed only hours earlier to iron out technical difficulties arising from a computer glitch aboard the ISS. Live pictures broadcast by CNN television showed Tito in his space-suit talking calmly with the Russian crew members, commander Talgat Musabayev and engineer Yury Baturin. The flight is scheduled to last 10 days. The Soyuz is expected to dock with the ISS on Monday, and Tito will return to earth on May 6. The US agency NASA hours earlier withdrew a demand for a postponement after Russian officials agreed that the docking of the Soyuz rocket with the space station could be delayed if necessary. Tito, a Californian multi-millionaire and former NASA engineer, agreed to pay Russia $ 20 million for the flight which makes him the first tourist in space, paying for the trip and flying for purely recreational purposes. The NASA reluctantly agreed to allow him to fly to the ISS on Tuesday, having objected on safety grounds for several months previously. For Tito, ambition comes as second nature.“We have only one life to live, and my commitment is to fulfil all of my dreams which are healthy and legitimate,” he told reporters last year. His love affair with the stars started when he was a teenager, when he saw the 1957 launch of the Russian satellite sputnik. “What I saw when I was 17 led me to enroll in aerospace engineering the next year,” he said. In 1964, he joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the NASA research centre in Pasadena, California, where he was responsible for calculating the trajectories for the Mariner 4 and 5 probes, which went to Mars and Venus. He asked NASA about becoming an astronaut, but aware of the slight odds, put his dream on hold, quit his low-paying job and launched him self into business. In 1972, he founded his own investment company. Before his 40th birthday, Tito was a millionaire. His firm, Wilshire Associates, is today one of the largest in the USA, with some 500 billion dollars in assets. Despite his fortune, Tito never forgot his first love. In 1991, on a business trip to the Soviet Union, he contacted the Russians about a programme that would have let guests visit the Mir Space Station, then the pride of the
Russian space programme. |
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Scribes demand politicians’ arrest Dhaka, April 28 “We hope this action of ours will good the administration to take action,” said Mohammed Idris, president of the Journalist’s Union in Chittagong, Bangladesh’s second-largest city and a key port. On the night of April 18, Mr Mamunur Rashid Mamum of the governing Awami League party allegedly broke into the office of the Dail Purbokone and beat up copy editor Iskandar Ali. Ali had told Mamun it was too late to accommodate a story about the politician, Idris said. Ali was dragged out of his office to the street where he was beaten up for 10 minutes, the journalists said. The newspaper reported the assault to the police, but no arrest had been made, Idris said. Mr Mamum, a member of the city’s municipal government, already faces 18 criminal charges, including two for murder. The police said he was in hiding and calls to his home and office were not answered today. If the police failed to arrest Mr Mamum by Monday, the journalists in Chittagong would go a hunger strike, Mr Idris said. The protest in Chittagong, 216 km south of Dhaka, comes amid an increasing number of assaults on journalists in
Bangladesh. AP |
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Musharraf defends ties with Taliban Dubai, April 28 “We already have a security concern to our East (India)...we cannot afford a security concern to our west as well,” General Musharraf said, obviously referring to Afghanistan. The Pakistani ruler, however, expressed dismay over some of the policies of the Taliban, including the recent destruction of ancient pre-Islamic Buddhist statues in Afghanistan and the regime’s views on women. “I am saddened by the attitude...But this does not mean we turn our backs on them. We have to engage them to moderate them,” he was quoted as saying in Gulf News. General Musharraf admitted that the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan and the secessionist movement in Kashmir were having a direct impact on Pakistani society. “The fallout from the Afghan conflict and the situation in Kashmir are serious. Their tackling requires a considered, intelligent and gradual approach,” he added. General Musharraf described as “a figment of the imagination and unduly alarmist” the warnings from western analysts and former Premier Benazir Bhutto about the “Talibanisation” of Pakistan due to its involvement with the Taliban regime and the tacit support it extended to militants in Kashmir. He claimed that “Pakistan is a moderate, progressive Islamic society and will strive to maintain its character.” There might be some people trying to hold the majority hostage to their rigid views, General Musharraf said, referring to those who supported the Taliban actions in Afghanistan.
UNI |
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US concern over arrests Washington, April 28 Political groups said more than 1,500 persons had been dragged from their homes since the police — who put the number at 500 — began their raids late on Wednesday, targeting anyone likely to participate in a planned May Day democracy rally in Karachi on Tuesday. Last month hundreds of ARD members were arrested ahead of a planned democracy rally in Lahore. “We are disappointed at the government of Pakistan’s decision to take this step,” State Department spokesman Charles Hunter said yesterday, noting that the decision “calls into question the government’s commitment to protect the civil liberties such as freedom of assembly, a key component of good democratic governments.” “Democracy is more than holding elections; it is also respecting democratic principles and human rights,” Mr Hunter added.
AFP |
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Pakistani battleships
in Myanmar Yangon, April 28 The fleet was docked at the Thilawa jetty, 20 km southeast of Yangon. The fleet, which was scheduled to depart with a visiting 16-member Pakistani defence delegation on Monday, precedes the scheduled visit of the Pakistani Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharraf, Myanmar military sources said. Myanmar and Pakistan are both deemed pariahs among western democracies for their poor human rights records and lack of democratic institutions. General Musharraf is scheduled to arrive in Yangon on Tuesday for a three-day visit at the invitation of State Peace and Development Council Chairman Senior General Than Shwe. |
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Pak N-scientist
‘embezzled’ money’ Islamabad, April 28 The Urdu daily, Din, has reported that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) conducted an investigation into his sources of income and found that he had embezzled money. However, the daily did not give details of the investigation. It has been the practice of the NAB to put anyone suspected of corruption in jail for 90 days. This duration has now been reduced to 15 days by the Supreme Court, but no such action was taken against Dr Khan. Since May 1998, when Pakistan exploded nuclear devices in Baluchistan, Dr Khan has been in the midst of controversy and rumours because he claimed the entire credit for the success of the tests.
UNI |
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Amnesty flays Punjab Govt London, April 28 “Unlike hundreds of others who ‘disappeared’ in Punjab in 1980s and early 1990s, the fate of Harjit Singh has been clarified by the courts. Warrants for the arrest of seven police officers on charges of his abduction and murder were issued on April 8, 2000. Over a year later, the arrests have still not taken place,” it said. A CBI inquiry on the orders of high court concluded at the end of 1999 that Harjit Singh was shot dead over a family dispute and that the police had filed a false report claiming that Harjit Singh had terrorist connections and was killed in an “encounter”. The inquiry further documented the falsification of evidence by senior police officials, Amnesty said, alleging that efforts to cover up the “truth” about police killings in the state continued.
PTI |
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Woman confined at
home for 7 years Wakayama (Japan), April 28 The woman was taken into protective custody, it said. The man, who had been hospitalised for mental illness for two months in 1986, forced his mother not to move beyond a futon, requiring her to obtain his permission to go to the bathroom or take baths, the police said. He assaulted her on occasions when he felt she had not respected his wishes, it said. The woman was found in a debilitated but not serious condition, the police said, adding that the man would undergo psychiatric tests. The man began confining his mother to the futon around April, 1994, feeling a grudge against her for putting him in the hospital, the police said. Police officers found the mother yesterday night when visiting the man’s home to ask about her whereabouts. Neighbours had reported not seeing her for several years.
Kyodo |
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