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Thursday,
June 28, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Invitation due to US pressure: Musharraf Blackwell asks USA to remove sanctions Hasina to hand over power |
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Dhaka-Agartala
bus test run from July 1
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Russia rejects UK plan on Iraq United Nations, June 27 Russia rejected a US-backed British plan to overhaul sanctions on Iraq and proposed its own resolution that would speed up an end to sanctions.
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Invitation due to US pressure: Musharraf Islamabad, June 27 Reporting on yesterday’s meeting between General Musharraf and senior editors of Pakistani newspapers, local daily Dawn said today that the military ruler agreed with an opinion expressed by an editor that Indians faced pressure from the USA to negotiate and resolve issues with Pakistan. He also agreed that Vajpayee could not have invited him for talks had there been no pressure by the international community, it said. The President said the struggle by the Jehadi groups had also contributed to the Indian realisation that New Delhi should settle issues with Islamabad. Pakistan newsagency Online has quoted him ruling out talks on the third option during his talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. In turn the negotiations would be ‘overshadowed’ by the core issue of Kashmir, he told the editors. Some of the editors who took part in General Musharraf’s meeting said he had assured them that he would not have any secret understanding with India on Kashmir, Siachen or any other issue during his meeting with Vajpayee and he would try his best to meet Hurriyat Conference leaders during his stay in New Delhi. He told editors that though he would try his best to meet the Hurriyat leaders, it was not his endeavour to go for a confrontation with Indian leadership on this issue. He is also understood to have said the question of him reaching any secret understanding with India on Kashmir or any other issue simply did not arise and promised to be as transparent as possible. The General said to prove his intentions he would try to address a joint press conference with Vajpayee at the end of the summit in Agra. During his three-hour interaction with the editors, he also revealed that he had three telephone conversations with
Vajpayee during the past few weeks and he made it clear that Kashmir would be the focus of his talks. He stated that he was given to understand by Vajpayee that Kashmir would be the main issue on the agenda. He also told Vajpayee that the statements emanating from Indian leaders, stating that Kashmir belonged to India, vitiated the atmosphere. At this, Vajpayee is understood to have said the media distorted the statements. Referring to the importance he attached to Kashmir issue, General Musharraf has been quoted as saying by the state television in its report on the editors meeting, that there was a vast difference between talks on Kashmir and all other issues and all other issues and Kashmir. The General was assured by the Indian leaders that it would be Kashmir and all other issues and not the other way. The difference between the two approaches is like the difference between the sky and earth, he said. The official APP newsagency, reported him as telling editors that he had decided to go to New Delhi after sensing Indian leadership’s realisation to resolve Kashmir issue and reiterated that Pakistan would join India at the summit in Agra next month with an ‘open mind and an open agenda’ to have a focussed dialogue on Kashmir and all other issues. He said he had sensed a realisation on the Indian side to resolve Kashmir issue which was not the case on previous occasions when the two countries had met and discussed bilateral relations.
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Blackwell asks USA to remove sanctions Washington, June 27 “The flowers have begun to bloom, but there are some deep historical ruts from which both countries have to get out and exploit the opportunities,” he said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He, however, made it clear that at this stage he could only speak in his personal capacity, for he would get official standing only after he was confirmed by the Senate. The US’ commitment to Indo-US relations “will certainly be manifested when the President visits India in the not too distant future,” he said. Mr Blackwell said US President Mr George W. Bush believed that the world could be made freer, more peaceful, and more prosperous if US and India cooperated closely together over the long term. “If confirmed, I especially look forward to working with the Indian American community and US Business to promote this vision. And I will urge this Committee and other members of the Congress to play their crucial role in transforming the US-India relationship, to visit India regularly and to receive your Indian counterparts here,”
he said. “I think it is very rich agenda...there is an enormous promise in this relationship,” Mr Blackwell said. Another area of cooperation was anti-terrorism. “It seems to me,” said Mr Blackwell, New Delhi and Washington both faced serious problems with respect to terrorism. “I hope we can find more intensive ways to cooperate,” he said. The fourth issue to be looked into, he said, was the future of the relationship between India and Pakistan. Noting that “General Musharraf” and Prime Minister of India Atal Behari Vajpayee would be meeting next month, he said US was not going to mediate in this but “we can be helpful if both sides want us to be helpful. Of course, in the end, they are going to have to find a way to resolve this issue-hopefully peacefully-between them.” Another subject, he hoped US would be able to discuss with India was the energy security in the Persian Gulf. India, he said, was importing more than 50 per cent of its energy from the Persian Gulf and the imports were likely to grow. “Then there are global issues, the UN issues,” he said. If there was full interaction with the Indian Government and there was mutual understanding, “it will help us to be a more persuasive advocate for our position, and then we can interact with New Delhi,” he added.
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Hasina to hand over power Dhaka, June 27 She made this assertion in a meeting with the Secretaries to the Bangladesh Government on yesterday at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Sources in the ruling Awami League and the Prime Minister’s office hinted that it was most likely to be on July, 15. The entire media in Bangladesh, for the past few days carried speculation by political analysts that the Awami League was likely to delay power transfer though they would request the President to dissolve Parliament on July 13, the last day of its five-year term. During these few days, the ruling party would try to manage many things. Based on these speculations, the four-party Opposition alliance, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), main opponent of the ruling Awami League threatened to launch an even tougher agitation, including continuous seven days of shutdown. Her assertion had cleared the programme of the ruling party and removed all clouds about delay in handing over power. Meanwhile, in the run up to the coming Parliament elections in late September or early October this year, preparations by the ruling party and its main contenders in the four-party alliance, two factions of the Jatiya Party (JP) had been in full swing. Leaders of all major political parties — the AL, the BNP, The JP, the Jamat-e-Islami (JI) — had been busy now making rounds across the country and seeking votes in whatever gatherings they address. The four-party alliance had been facing problem in finalising the formula for sharing seats among partners in the coming elections. The joint committee constituted in this regard recently had not met yet. Meanwhile, wordy duels between two main leaders — Ms Sheikh Hasina and Ms Khaleda Zia had become a cause of concern. Ms Zia, at a public meeting on June 23 in a northern district, remarked that ‘boat will be crushed under the earth in the coming days’. Boat is the poll symbol of the ruling Awami League. In reply, two days later Ms Sheikh Hasina said ‘they (the BNP) don’t have the strength to do anything like this. And if they resort to such act the Awami League will give befitting reply.’ Later at another public meeting in south-east district Ms Hasina said ‘We shall cut all sheaf of paddy, load them in boats and give those to the people’ Sheaf of Paddy is poll symbol of the BNP. Moreover, the BNP leaders threatened that they would teach lesson during the caretaker government tenure. These threats had actually created a fear of political disturbance in coming days before the elections. |
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J&K integral part of India: Sonia New York, June 27 “Jammu and Kashmir, including Ladakh, is inextricably woven into the fabric of India’s pluralistic heritage and the Constitution has sufficient in-built flexibility to accommodate the legitimate democratic aspirations of Indians living in the valley,” she told a joint meeting of the Asia Society and the Council of Foreign Relations yesterday. Conceding that there was no easy solution to the Kashmir issue, she asserted that India would not “countenance another partition based on religion.” She pointed out that elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly were due next year and urged Pakistan to take effective measures to restore democratic institutions and norms in the part of the state that was under its “illegal occupation.” Expressing support for the upcoming summit between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, she said India was committed to meaningful negotiations with Islamabad to resolve all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir. “We must have demonstrable, verifiable and enforceable confidence-building measures to avert the risk of a nuclear and missile conflict,” Ms Sonia Gandhi said and asked Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism. The elections in Kashmir, she told the meeting, “offer an opportunity of demonstrating the extraordinary resilience of the Indian democracy and its capacity for transforming yesterday’s agitators into today’s rulers.”
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Dhaka-Agartala
bus test run from July 1 Dhaka, June 27 A delegation of the corporation will go to Agartala on July 2. Another round of meeting is scheduled on July 3 in Agartala. The Bangladesh delegation will return to Dhaka on July 4. Meanwhile, the draft of the agreement of the bus service between Dhaka and Agartala has been approved by the Bangladesh Cabinet on Monday last. |
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Indo-German
extradition treaty
Berlin, June 27 The treaty, which was signed by Home Minister
L.K. Advani and Germany’s Federal Minister of State Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, will enable the two countries to extradite a person wanted in “extraditable offences”. Extraditable offences under the treaty are the ones which are punishable under the laws of both the states and are punishable by a term of imprisonment of at least one year. Extradition will also be granted in respect of an attempt or conspiracy to commit, or aiding, abetting, inciting or participating as an accomplice in the commission of an extraditable offence, a senior Indian official said.
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Russia rejects UK plan on Iraq United Nations, June 27 Britain and the USA dismissed the Russian initiative as unacceptable. The rival drafts left the 15-member Security Council bitterly divided yesterday on how to break the stalemate on the future of sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. It also highlighted the vastly differing approaches the major powers are taking on Iraq 11 years after Gulf War. Britain said it wanted to continue negotiations on its draft and hoped the council would reach agreement by a July 3 deadline. But Russia’s outright rejection — indicating it would exercise its veto power if necessary — cast serious doubt on the possibility that the US-British draft could be adopted in just a week. The British proposal was introduced on May 22 in a resolution to extend the UN oil-for-food programme which allows Iraq to sell unlimited quantities of oil provided the money mainly goes to the purchase of food and humanitarian supplies. When the council couldn’t agree on a sanctions overhaul by early June, members extended the oil-for-food programme for 30 days, instead of the usual six months, to give negotiators extra time to reach agreement. Iraq, in protest, stopped UN-monitored oil exports to all but its neighbours. AP |
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Sister surrogates brother’s child New York, June 27 The Los Angeles fertility clinic, which helped in the birth of what is being described as cash kids to help a brother and sister thwart the inheritance from their mother passing on to distant cousins, is reviewing its procedure after the incident came to light. The incident was reported by New York Post, which said a renowned Los Angeles fertility doctor was visited by a French couple last year so desperate to have a child that they forked out a $ 200,000 fee. But little did the doctor know the couple was an ageing brother and sister hoping to have a child so they could inherit their mother’s $ 3.8 million fortune. Jeanine Salomone, 62, and her brother Robert, 52, had the child last month. The baby, carried by Jeanine, was the product of an American woman’s egg fertilised by Robert’s sperm. The American woman, who has been identified only as Deborah, also gave birth to a child that was the product of Robert’s sperm. The doctor at the clinic, the Post says, admits background check was not conducted on the siblings. If there had been one, he now says, he would not have performed the procedure. PTI |
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Taliban ‘not to
force’ Hindus to wear badges Islamabad, June 27 According to a fresh understanding reached between the Taliban and the Hindu community, the Hindus would be issued identification cards and they would be required to keep them in their pockets and produce them whenever needed, The News reported.
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Lahore HC
judge resigns Islamabad, June 27 |
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