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Friday,
June 8, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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India, Russia one on NMD: Jaswant Anti-talks stand immature: Musharraf MQM leader gets death threat Laden ‘has network in 55 nations’ |
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Reyat rearrested Blast kills 3
in Lahore
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India, Russia one on NMD: Jaswant Moscow, June 7 Mr Jaswant Singh, who was in Russia for the first meeting of the Indo-Russian joint commission on defence cooperation, reiterated that India was opposed to any move that would lead to the unilateral abrogation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty signed by Moscow and Washington in 1972. He called for global efforts to create a new security framework. “There is no difference between India and Russia on the (NMD) issue,” Mr Jaswant Singh said. “It is the press that has blown the issue out of proportion.” India has supported elements of the NMD programme, with Mr Jaswant Singh recently saying that it marked a departure from the “confrontations of the cold war era” by creating a new global security framework. Russia, however, is opposed to the initiative, saying that it would violate the ABM treaty. “The confrontationist attitude of the cold war era should be abandoned and the world should move towards a new security framework through joint efforts,” said Mr Jaswant Singh. “The ABM treaty is a bilateral agreement signed by Moscow and Washington, which should not be abrogated unilaterally. We have not supported the US proposal for building the NMD system and we are in constant touch with Russia on the issue.” Any unilateral abrogation of the ABM treaty would cause strategic instability and that is why any decision on the NMD issue should be taken in consultation with Russia, Mr Jaswant Singh stressed. His talks with Russian leaders, including Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, have resulted in the narrowing down of differences on the NMD issue and the Indian Defence Minister has succeeded in dispelling Moscow's apprehension, said observers. The NMD issue also figured in talks between visiting Mr Jaswant Singh and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. “The views of Russia and India on international security and strategic stability are either identical or they fully coincide,” said Mr Sergei Ivanov after a meeting with Mr Jaswant Singh. The Indian minister, who also holds the External Affairs portfolio, said the UN Security Council resolution, jointly moved by Russia and the USA, imposing sanctions on Afghanistan's Taliban regime should be strictly observed. Mr Jaswant Singh said New Delhi would “never accept” Pakistan military ruler Pervez Musharraf's proposal for extending recognition to the Taliban regime. “The Taliban's activities contradict civilised conduct and pose a grave challenge to mankind .The barbarous destruction of the ancient Buddha statues (at Bamiyan) and the dress code imposed by them on religious minorities remind one of the horrors of the Nazis.” During his three-day visit, which ended Wednesday, Mr Jaswant Singh held talks with President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov and Mr Vladimir Rushailo, secretary of the National Security Council. Mr Jaswant Singh said his visit constituted an important step in preparing for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit to Russia in November. Meanwhile, Russia has offered to help India in creating a theatre missile defence system that will combine missiles and radars from the two countries in keeping with recent efforts to jointly produce hi-tech military hardware. The offer to create the system, combining elements of the Russian S-300PMU air defence system with missiles and radars indigenously developed by India, was made by Moscow during the first meeting of the Indo-Russian joint commission on defence cooperation. “We are preparing a project report about this and will submit it to the Indian political leadership,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, in charge of his country's arms sales, told reporters at the conclusion of the meeting. Indian Defence Minister Jaswant Singh, who co-chairs the joint commission, said defence cooperation between India and Russia had entered a “qualitatively new level.” India has reportedly been negotiating the purchase of the S-300PMU system for more than five years now, but little progress has been because of the huge costs involved. Defence sources said the offer to combine elements of the S-300PMU with India’s Akash surface-to-air missile, currently under development, and Rajendra radars, would lead to a major cut in the Russian air defense system's cost. The S-300PMU system is capable of protecting vital facilities from attacks by enemy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles. Each S-300PMU system has up to six missile complexes, each equipped with 48 missiles, and sophisticated surveillance and fire control radars. The system can simultaneously track up to 100 targets, and engage them at ranges between 5 km and 150 km. Russia has already offered to jointly produce the S-37 fifth generation combat aircraft, currently being developed by the Sukhoi design bureau, with India. India has ordered 50 Su-30MKIs from Russia and plans to build 140 of the sophisticated aircraft under licence over the next 15 years under a $3.3 billion deal. The Su-30MKI is a version of the Su-27 that has been specially developed for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Russia has so far delivered 18 aircraft. Russia has assured India that deliveries of the remaining 32 aircraft would begin in December. Mr Klebanov has said that India and Russia would jointly build submarines and warships in India under the long-term military-technical cooperation program valid till 2010. Russian media reports have also suggested that Moscow would extend assistance to India in building nuclear-powered submarines.
IANS |
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Anti-talks stand immature: Musharraf Islamabad, June 7 It was a “wrong attitude” to say that there should not be any talks with India. “It seems very immature to me”, he said in an interview to Pakistan magazine Herald while replying to a question on the appeals made by the leaders of the militant groups asking him not to accept the Indian invitation. “The objective is to solve the problem of Kashmir.... There are two ways to achieve this objective. Those who are fighting say that they can achieve it by fighting. But there is another way of achieving this objective and that is by peaceful negotiations. It is quite obvious that an intelligent person will say that if the solution is found through peaceful negotiations, what is the need for fighting,” General Musharraf said. “In the past we have been fighting. We have fought wars. I think if we are able to resolve it by peaceful means, there should not be any need for fighting. I think that those who say that there should not be any talks have a wrong attitude,” General Musharraf said. Asked about his past statements that he would use his influence to scale down militants if India displayed sincerity in starting a peace process, General Musharraf said “the time has not yet come.” “The time will come when talks are held and they make progress. The present meeting is step one in the process. Now it remains to be seen that the talks begin and they begin on Kashmir and then they make headway.” Replying to a question whether he would take further steps to improve the atmosphere so that the talks made progress, General Musharraf claimed, “Well, it was I who took all the initiatives. We displayed restraint on the Line of Control (LoC).” “Now we have to see what solution is .... We have to see the views and the interests of the Kashmiris, as the situation directly affects them,” he said, adding that he had been optimistic about the dialogue process starting, at some point or the other. General Musharraf said he would be going to New Delhi with an open mind on the Kashmir issue. “Open mind does not mean that we start discussing something else and do not discuss Kashmir. We will discuss the Kashmir issue. And with regard to that issue I shall go there with an open and flexible mind.”
PTI |
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MQM leader gets death threat London, June 7 At a press conference in Karachi early this week, leaders of Jaish-e-Mohammad not only made an “open declaration” to assassinate Mr Altaf Hussain and “blast” the office of the MQM International Secretariat in London through their suicide squad but also “confessed with pride” that when they could carry out bomb blasts in the USA and India, why could they not do it in the UK.” In an SOS appeal to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, MQM convener Imran Farooq has urged the UK Government to prevail upon the military government of Pakistan “to take serious notice and action” against the militant organisation”.
PTI |
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Laden ‘has network in 55 nations’ Washington, June 7 Laden’s organisation Al-Qaida’ is dedicated to opposing all nations and institutions that are not governed in a manner consistent with the group’s particular extremist interpretation of Islam, the Potomac Institute of Public Studies said. Such nations include Saudi Arabia, which according to him, is not governed as per the Islamic principles. “A sacred objective of the Al-Qaida,” Laden has declared, is to “unite all Muslims and establish a government which follows the rule of the Caliphs.” To achieve this goal, all Muslim governments, viewed as “corrupted” by western influence, “must be overthrown by force”, the report adds. “Eventually, Muslim state boundaries will be erased and replaced with a unified government under the rule of the Caliphs.” Laden built a “guest house” in Peshawar, his first station, for new recruits to fight the Soviets and later moved his headquarters to Sudan and then to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, the report said. Laden’s Pakistani associates include Sheikh Mir Hamzah, who was arrested by Indian authorities in 1993 but was subsequently released, Emir of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan, co-signatory of the February 23, 1998 anti-US fatwa which stresses that it is the duty of all Muslims to kill Americans wherever and whenever possible. Other associates include Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a leader of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, which has operated in Kashmir and led the Jehad movement in Bangladesh. Another associate is Maulana Salahuddin, leader of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen group in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, a strong ally of the Taliban and Supreme Commander of the United Jehad Council, an organisation of 14 Kashmiri militant groups. Hafiz Saeed, a former university professor of Islamic studies in Pakistan and who is now the leader of the Lashker-e-Toiba, a militant group in Kashmir, is another associate. Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher noted at his daily briefing yesterday that the UN Security Council had taken positions on Osama bin Laden and the presence of terrorists in Afghanistan.
PTI |
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13 LTTE men among 15 killed in Lanka Colombo, June 7 At least 10 guerrillas and a soldier were killed in two incidents in the North-East region of the island nation while a civilian was shot dead by the LTTE’s pistol group. Troops confirmed the killing of eight LTTE rebels in an ambush at Unchalkaddy in Weliova yesterday. In an early morning incident in Trincomalee, a soldier was killed when troops on a patrol confronted a group of terrorists in Alioluwa, 30 km east of Kantalai town. Two terrorists were killed by army snipers in Ponnar and Muhamali areas of Jaffna. In Kilaly, two soldiers were injured in mortar fire by terrorists.
PTI, UNI |
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US lawmakers to wear ‘I am a Hindu’ badges Washington, June 7 In a resolution passed by the House International Relations Committee condemning the Taliban’s edict requiring Hindus to wear yellow badges as a mark of identity, the lawmakers said the Taliban’s “despicable” decree was analogous to the Nazi persecution of Jews. The House resolution condemned “the Taliban’s use of Nazi tactics to force Hindus in Afghanistan to wear symbols identifying them as Hindu. It “joined” with people of all faiths around the world in standing against the “religious persecution by the Taliban regime.” It demanded that the Taliban regime “immediately revoke its order stigmatising Hindus and other non-Muslims in Afghanistan and conform its laws to all basic international, civil and human rights standards”. It called on the Pakistan Government to use its influence with the Taliban regime to demand that the latter revoke the “reprehensible policy of forcing Afghan Hindus and other non-Muslims to wear identity symbols.” Mr Gary Ackerman, New York Democrat, during the course of his remarks castigating the Taliban edict, held up a copy of the yellow star the Nazi generals of Adolf Hitler’s regime had ordered the Jews in Denmark to wear in 1943 which said in Hebrew, “I am a Jew.” Mr Ackerman said the then King of Denmark had himself worn the yellow star in solidarity with the Jews and exhorted his people to do the same which torpedoed the Nazi army’s efforts to identify Jews and haul them away to concentration camps. Mr Ackerman hoped that on the day the Taliban’s edict came into force, all members of the US Congress would wear yellow badges in solidarity with the Hindus in Afghanistan. “On that particular day, we will all become Hindus, so that the miniscule minority Hindus in Afghanistan will have a source of strength,” he said. Mr Tom Lantos, California Democrat, who is the ranking minority member on the committee, strongly endorsed Mr Ackerman’s remarks and pledged to wear an “I am a Hindu” badge if the Taliban decree came to pass, and vowed to support a campaign to convince all US lawmakers to do the same on the fateful day. Mr Lantos also said he would aggressively pursue Washington’s concern over Pakistan’s support for the Taliban when Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar would visit the USA later this month and warn him that if such support was not ended Islamabad would have very few, if any, friends on Capitol Hill. He said he would urge Mr Sattar to make sure the Pakistani Government put pressure on the Taliban and prevail on the latter to have this edict withdrawn immediately. Mr Eliot Engel, co-author of the resolution that has 74 co-sponsors and was approved unanimously by the committee and sent to the full House for a vote, said, the badge of identity “made Afghan Hindus “even more vulnerable to police and mob violence.” He said he was particularly concerned “because this was not the “first time” the Taliban has singled out Afghan Hindus. Prior to 1992, Afghanistan had a population of over 50,000 Hindus. Most had fled due to anti-Hindu violence. There were now approximately 500 Hindus left in Afghanistan who were subject to the Taliban’s edict, he said. A founding member of the India Caucus, Mr Sherrod Brown, also ridiculed the Taliban’s rationale for the edict and said: “Contrary to the Taliban’s claims, such an action is a sign of religious intolerance.”
IANS |
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Reyat rearrested Vancouver, June 7 Reyat was detained anew by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on seven charges, including murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the Air India disaster off the Irish coast. Reyat was serving 10 years for manslaughter for providing the bomb that exploded just an hour before at Tokyo’s Narita airport, killing two baggage handlers. His imprisonment was scheduled to end on Saturday. Instead, RCMP officers of the Air India Task Force went to Matsqui prison early yesterday with a warrant for his arrest. He appeared in court briefly later yesterday after initially refusing to go inside to protest what a lawyer called his rejection of the court’s jurisdiction. “He does not consent to be remanded in custody,” the lawyer, Kuldip Chaggar, told Justice Ian Josephson. The judge ordered the 49-year-old Reyat, dressed in white prison clothes and wearing leg shackles, brought in. In a hearing that lasted less than a minute, Reyat waived the reading of the charges and was ordered to appear again on June 15.
AP, Reuters |
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Blast kills 3
in Lahore Islamabad, June 7 The explosion virtually brought down the house killing a 35-year-old woman and her two sons, while the husband suspected to be a member of some Islamic militant organisation survived the blast last night, the police said. PTI |
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