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Sunday,
May 20, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Oppn
to block Musharraf’s bid to
become President Protesters
torch vehicles in Karachi No accord
yet on Lanka peace talks |
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15 injured in
B’desh clashes Khamenei’s
call to arm Palestinians 93
bodies found
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Oppn to block Musharraf’s bid to become President Islamabad, May 19 “Any amendments to the constitution could only be proposed by political parties for the approval of parliament,” ARD chairman Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan told IANS after a meeting of the alliance, which barred its constituent units from holding any discussions with the military government on constitutional amendments. Mr Khan said since parliament did not exist and the constitution had been held in abeyance, political parties were morally bound not to discuss any constitutional amendments with the military government, “which had no authority to amend the constitution or restructure the federating units.” “This (should) dispel the impression that politicians have agreed with the supreme court verdict granting a right to the military government to amend the constitution,” said Mr Nasrullah Khan. He said the constitution was a sacred document, but “unfortunately, all military adventurists had shown no respect to it, rather treated it as trash.” The meeting was attended by 38 leaders from 16 political parties, including the Muslim League of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan Peoples’ Party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The alliance comprised 19 parties but the leaders of three of these could not attend the meeting. The ARD chief, who had been in the forefront in campaigns against former military rulers Ayub Khan and Ziaul Haq, condemned General Musharraf’s statement that neither Mr Sharif nor Ms Bhutto would be permitted to rule again. “The armed forces or its chief had no authority to stop anyone from becoming premier of the country as this right exclusively rested with the people.” Politicians derived power from people, “while the source of strength for all military adventurists had remained their institution, which they exploited to perpetuate their rule,” he said. The ARD also decided to launch a mass mobilisation campaign from Baluchistan on June 6 for the “revival” of democratic rule in the country. On two previous occasions — March 23 and May 1 - the ARD had failed to hold its planned anti-government demonstrations in Lahore and Karachi due to a crackdown on its leaders and heavy police deployment at the protest venues.
IANS |
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Protesters
torch vehicles in Karachi Karachi, May 19 Saleem Qadri, president of the Sunni Tehreek (Sunni Movement), was killed yesterday in an ambush outside his home in the city’s western district of Baldia. The police said unidentified gunmen intercepted his car and sprayed it with bullets as Qadri, along with party members and relatives, was heading for a mosque for Friday prayers. Qadri and two of his nephews died on the spot, while his cousin and an unidentified man died in hospital, the police said. A police officer assigned to guard Qadri was also
killed. AFP |
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Israeli
copters pound West Bank towns Jenin, West Bank, May 19 Hospital sources in Tulkarm reported four security personnel and 11 civilians wounded in the strike by three assault helicopters on the Palestinian security headquarters in the northern West Bank town. Witnesses in Jenin said four helicopter gunships launched 11 missiles at the main headquarters of the Palestinian security and police apparatus in the town. The Israeli army said in a written statement that its air force had attacked two ‘’terrorist targets’’ and confirmed they were the Palestinian security headquarters in Tulkarm and Jenin. The strikes, the second against both Jenin and Tulkarm this week, followed widespread air attacks yesterday against Palestinian security compounds in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which Israel said were in reprisal for a suicide bombing that killed five Israelis in the coastal town of Netanya. The Palestinian Authority had condemned the bombing and urged Israel to demonstrate restraint. JERUSALEM:
Israeli troops killed a Palestinian paramilitary policeman during a gunbattle in the West Bank early on Saturday, Palestinian security sources said. They said three other members of the Palestinian security forces members had been found dead in rubble or died from wounds suffered during an Israeli air strike on the West Bank city of Nablus on Friday that was in retaliation for a Palestinian suicide bomber’s attack on an Israeli shopping mall. In a separate incident, the Israeli police safely detonated an explosive device placed by a Palestinian man in a West Jerusalem cafe on Saturday morning, the Israeli police said. The security sources said the paramilitary policeman died in a shootout after an Israeli undercover unit tried to enter a Palestinian-ruled area in Silet al-Harthia village near Jenin, in the north of the West Bank. The Israeli army said it was checking the report. The Palestinian sources said two more paramilitary policemen had been found dead in the rubble of a security post in Nablus and another had died overnight of wounds sustained during the missile attack by Israeli warplanes.
Reuters |
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No accord yet on Lanka peace talks Colombo, May 19 The major hurdle in reaching an agreement seems to be the LTTE’s demand for deproscription before the commencement of talks. This, however, is a difficult proposition for the government which has been relentlessly trying to get it banned by the international community. Mr Solheim, who held discussions with President Chandrika Kumaratunga last evening, said the two parties were close to agreeing upon measures to alleviate the living conditions of the civilian population in Wanni, a Norwegian Embassy statement, quoting Mr Solheim, said. The LTTE had demanded that it would not negotiate until the government met some of its demands, like the cessation of hostilities, removing the embargo on transportation of essential goods to Wanni and lifting the ban on the organisation. Mr Solehim, who met with LTTE’s political wing leader S.P. Thamilchelvan, for five hours in Wanni on Thursday, returned to Colombo yesterday after agreeing to more discussions to iron out differences between the two sides. Mr Solheim is understood to have conveyed to the President the LTTE’s reiteration of lifting of the ban. The statement said Norway would continue to keep close contacts with both parties and encourage them to refrain from military operations.
UNI |
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15 injured in B’desh clashes Chittagong, May 19 “Security has been beefed up, with the military patrolling the area along with the police, but the situation is now calm,” a police officer said following a series of rallies and marches in Khagrachari district. He said tension prevailed, but so far there were no reports of any fresh violence. At least 15 persons were injured after clashes erupted when a bus carrying settlers from a protest meeting came under gun attack by unidentified men yesterday in the remote Boalkhali village in Khagrachari, the police said. The police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control, but a mob torched some 15 houses near the site of the clash, witnesses and the police said. The settlers, backed by opposition political parties who are opposing a 1997 peace treaty, staged protests to condemn the killing of a local militia man by what they called “tribal terrorists” several days ago. After the treaty was signed, a faction broke away from former rebel leader Jyotirindrio Bodhopriya Larma, accusing him of compromising their ideals of autonomy and the expulsion of Bengali-speaking Muslim settlers from the scenic region. The 1997 treaty ended a 22-year-old insurgency in the region which left thousands dead. Larma, who headed the now abolished rebel group Shanti Bahini, currently heads the Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti. He is also a state minister of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council.
AFP |
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Khamenei’s call to arm Palestinians Teheran, May 19 “The expectation from Muslim governments is that they give the Palestinian nation the necessary means for their defence,” Mr Khamenei said in a sermon at yesterday’s prayers. “Now that the aggressor (Israel) is not willing to end its crimes, the Palestinians must at least be enabled to defend their rights,” he said. Thousands of worshippers gathered at the Tehran University campus responded with the Islamic rallying cry of “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest). Mr Khamenei was speaking hours before Israeli forces fired a missile at Palestinian security headquarters in the West Bank, killing at least one person. The attack followed a suicide bombing which killed seven persons in Israel. Mr Khamenei criticised European governments for what he called their silence towards Israel’s “atrocities” during nearly eight months of a Palestinian uprising in which at least 426 Palestinians, 87 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed. “Do they not claim to support human rights? why don’t they condemn Israel? why do they not bring pressure to stop the killing?’’ he said. UNITED NATIONS:
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has condemned as disproportionate Israeli air raids against Palestinian areas carried out on Friday in retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed five bystanders. In a statement, Mr Annan described the suicide as an “appalling terrorist attack” but said he was “deeply disturbed by the disproportionate Israeli response” which killed nine Palestinians and wounded dozens of others. “While I have repeatedly made clear my utter condemnation of terrorism from whatever quarter, and do so again, I can only regard this response as excessive and misdirected,” he said. The raids were the first by Israeli warplanes on the West Bank and Gaza since Israel occupied the territories in 1967. The “effect will inevitably be to increase bitterness even further on the Palestinian side,” Mr Annan said. WASHINGTON:
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has called on all parties in West Asia to unconditionally halt violence, after the suicide bombing in Netanya and Israeli raids on Palestinian territories. “What we need now more than anything else is unconditional cessation of violence on the part of all,” said Mr Powell on Friday at a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. LONDON: British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has called on Israel and the Palestinians to end the “spiral of atrocity and retaliation” in the West Asia. “I deplore the violence and bloodshed we have seen on Friday”, he said in a statement following Israel’s bombing of Palestinian targets with warplanes.
Reuter, AFP |
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93 bodies found Tripoli, May 19 A Niger-registered truck carrying residents from various African countries entered Libyan territory May 8 and broke down, leaving the 93 to die. Another 26, including the Sudanese driver, were able to escape and receive medical care, JANA said yesterday. The victims, believed to be trying to enter Libya illegally, were not immediately identified, as they were not carrying identity papers. The bodies were found in several parts of the southern Murzuq region, said security officials quoted by the agency. In Tripoli, temperatures in May often go over 43°C with temperatures even higher in the desert.
AFP |
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Islamabad, May 19
