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Friday,
June 29, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Petitions challenging
Musharraf dismissed Pervez denies
remarks about US pressure Annan’s second term approved
Summit figures in Sonia-Cheney
talks Organ harvesting in
China
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UN okays plan to fight
AIDS BNP not to boycott
general election Editor sentenced to death in Pak Dutch Queen ‘richer’ than
Elizabeth Taliban denies change in decision Advani for better ties with neighbours
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Petitions challenging Musharraf dismissed Islamabad, June 28 Besides questioning the removal of Mr Tarar as President and takeover of the same office by General Musharraf, the petitioners were also aggrieved of the Chief Justice of Pakistan Irshad Hasan Khan, for swearing in General Musharraf to the presidential office, “bypassing the traditions of the judiciary”. After hearing the arguments from the petitioners, the court dismissed them in limine yesterday. The court dismissed all three petitions on the grounds that the constitution was currently under suspension after the Supreme Court validated the October 1999 military coup and the subsequent promulgation of the Provisional Constitutional Order by the military regime, the Nation newspaper reported. The case had taken an interesting turn after one of the petitioners objected to the hearing of the case by Mr Justice Khalilur Rahman Ramday of the Lahore High Court. One of the petitioners, Mian Hanif Tahir of the Peoples Lawyers Forum, told the court that the Judge had remarked in the past that the military regime should have been given six years’ tenure. Mian Tahir said since the Judge was ‘pro-government’, therefore, he did not expect justice and pleaded the court to ensure the judge did not hear the case. The court turned down the request and asked counsel to argue the case. The petitioner, however, declined to argue saying that he had left the matter to the conscience of the court. Meanwhile the Chairman of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), Mr Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan has said if the government sets a time-frame for elections, the coalition will be ready to have consultations on Kashmir and discuss the next month’s summit meeting between Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Mr Nasrullah Khan said after the boycott of the opposition to talk to the government, the consultations with it became meaningless. He said only a representative and strong government in Pakistan could talk to India. He said the ARD could never think of damaging the national interests, adding that it would ultimately succeed and the military regime would have to go.
PTI, UNI |
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Pervez denies
remarks about US pressure Islamabad, June 28 English daily ‘Dawn’, which had reported yesterday that Mr Musharraf shared the opinion of some of the editors that the invitation was extended under pressure from the USA, today quoting the sources, clarified that the President had talked about the overall emerging environment to resolve all outstanding issues, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir with India. The Pakistani President did not say that the Indians had decided to hold talks with Pakistan under US pressure, the daily quoting the sources said.
PTI |
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Annan’s second term approved United Nations, June 28 “I am deeply honoured by the vote that has just taken place in the Security Council,” he told a news conference called to promote his global campaign against AIDS. “And I am grateful for the trust and support they have given me.” The action by the council yesterday came six months before his term expires on December 31 and was praised by diplomats, UN staff and human rights groups. His re-election was a foregone conclusion after he announced he would run again in March and almost immediately received wide support. Some South-East Asian countries had argued it was their turn to occupy the post, which, according to unwritten tradition, rotates among regions every ten years. But they fielded no serious contender and would have had difficulty challenging Mr Annan’s popularity. Mr Annan, a 63-year old career UN official from Ghana, is the seventh Secretary-General of the world body, and the second from Africa, following Boutros Boutros Ghali of Egypt. His re-election will give Africa 15 years in occupying the post. The unanimous decision by the council was in stark contrast to his election five years ago which occurred after the USA cast a veto against Mr Boutros-Ghali, saying he had not done enough to reform the UN bureaucracy. The council then went through a series of ballots until France dropped its threat to veto Mr Annan, then the UN Undersecretary-General in charge of peacekeeping. This year the five Security Council members with veto power endorsed him soon after he announced his candidacy, beginning with President George W. Bush. Russia and China followed despite misgivings over his insistence that state sovereignty could not shield governments from gross human rights violations. “Of all the secretaries-general to date, Mr Annan has best understood the centrality of human rights to the work of the United Nations,” said Ms Joanna Weschler of Human Rights Watch. The voting came unusually early as council members decided not to prolong a campaign and elect him before summer holidays. The date selected, however, detracted from the closing session of a major AIDS conference Mr Annan had vigorously promoted. A member of a merchant family from the Fante ethnic group, Mr Annan is married to Nane Lagergren, a Swedish artist and lawyer. He has a bachelor’s degree from Macalester college in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a masters in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Reuters |
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Summit figures in Sonia-Cheney talks Washington, June 28 Congress sources said the meeting, which took place yesterday, lasted about 20 minutes. Ms Gandhi told Mr Cheney that her party welcomed the summit, adding that the Congress had always favoured friendly relations with Pakistan. Describing the meeting as friendly and cordial, the sources said regional and bilateral issues were discussed at the meeting. Former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh were also present. Ms Gandhi’s scheduled meeting with New York Senator Hillary Clinton could not materialise. The Bush administration views India as a “very important country” with whom it has much “commonality”. This was stated by Mr Cheney during the meeting. ISLAMABAD: The US Ambassador to Pakistan, Mr William B Milam, has expressed the hope that the summit meeting between Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will resolve the Kashmir problem and other thorny issues which have plagued relations between the two countries over the years. Speaking at a function organised by the Pakistan National Forum in Lahore yesterday, Mr Milam said the dialogue would be successful and both India and Pakistan would resolve their disputes amicably.
PTI, UNI |
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Organ harvesting in China Washington, June 28 “My work required me to remove the skin and corneas from the corpses of more than 100 executed prisoners, and on a couple of occasions, victims of intentionally botched executions,’’ Dr Wang Guoqi told a House of Representatives Subcommittee on Human Rights yesterday. “It is with deep regret and remorse that I stand here today testifying against the practices of organ and tissue sales from death row prisoners,’’ he said. Dr Guoqi left China a year ago and has been living in the USA. The doctor described coordinated procedures that he said government officials and Chinese doctors developed to extract organs from inmates immediately after their executions so they could be transplanted. Chinese doctors removed the prisoners’ organs on the execution site, in some cases before the prisoners’ hearts stopped beating, Dr Guoqi said. He said he became tormented by the practice after he followed orders to remove the skin of a still-living prisoner in October 1995. The incident prompted him to alert the international community to the inhuman practice of organ harvesting in China. According to the doctor’s testimony, inmates’ blood tests were done in prison to determine their compatibility with interested donors. On execution day, he said, the prisoners who were to become organ donors were the first to die.
Reuters |
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Lata not to
perform in Pakistan
London, June 28 “It’s kite flying. What have I got to do with (Pakistan) cricket. My hands are already full in India. I have no plans to perform in Pakistan,” she said when asked to comment on the Pakistani media report. She said she had declined once to perform in a concert in Pakistan in memory of late singer Noor Jehan.
PTI |
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UN okays plan to fight AIDS United Nations, June 28 After wrangling for weeks over whether to highlight the groups, the 189-member UN General Assembly accepted without a vote a 20-page final declaration at the end of its three-day high-level session on AIDS. “We worked hard but in fact the real work only starts now,” said UN General Assembly President Harri Holkeri. “It is not a perfect text. But it is a good text — action-oriented and practical,” said Australia’s UN Ambassador Penny Wensley, who led the negotiations along with Senagalese Ambassador Ibra Ka. The declaration sets tough timetables for countries to develop and implement national strategies to combat the spread of HIV, set up prevention programmes and provide access to treatment for all those affected. It states the years by which these goals are to be implemented. Some 3,000 government officials, activists, drug company executives and AIDS victims themselves converged on the United Nations this week to back a global agenda for tackling the pandemic and to galvanise funds for 36 million people facing a death sentence from the disease. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged the world to spend $ 7-10 billion a year to respond to the pandemic, compared with about $ 2 billion currently spent in developing nations, half of it in Brazil alone. African Presidents and Prime Ministers were heavily represented and promised to lead anti-AIDS campaigns on the continent where 25 million are afflicted with the virus. Egypt, Pakistan, Libya, Sudan, Iran and other Islamic nations, backed by the Vatican, fought for weeks against naming “men who have sex with men,” intravenous drug users, prostitutes and prisoners among the groups particularly vulnerable to AIDS and in need of special attention.
Reuters |
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BNP not to boycott general election Dhaka, June 28 The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has led a boycott of parliament for more than two years as part of its campaign to oust Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. But BNP leader Badruddoza Chowdhury ruled out the possibility of boycotting the election at a meeting with Western diplomats. “The question of not participating in the poll does not arise at all as the BNP is committed to democracy,” he said. “But the creation of a congenial atmosphere before the election is mandatory so that people can cast their votes freely,” he added. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed will hand over power to a neutral caretaker government by July 15 after the 330-member parliament completes its five-year term. The caretaker government will organise the election by October. Mr Chowdhury added the caretaker government should launch an intensive drive to seize illegal weapons, as well as free members of the BNP who, he alleged, were sent to jail on “false charges” by the government. Western diplomats, who also held talks with leaders of the ruling Awami League and the election chief, said they were confident the election would be free and fair. “We have discussed a number of issues, including local and foreign poll observers, voter list and arrangements being made for the coming election,” Mr David Preston, Canadian High Commissioner in Dhaka, told reporters yesterday after the second meeting in a month with the poll chief, Mr M. Abu Syed. AFP |
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Editor sentenced to death in Pak Islamabad, June 28 The Special Judge of Anti-Narcotics Court, Mr Syed Kazim Raza Shamsi, awarded death sentence to Rehmat Shah Afridi of the ‘Frontier Post’, which resumed publication a few days ago after it was closed down early this year. The newspaper published from Peshawar city in North-West Frontier Province, close to Afghanistan border, was banned after it published a letter from a Jew making blasphemous remarks against Prophet Mohammad. Following the publication, the offices of the newspaper were sealed by the government and later burnt by Islamic fundamentalist groups. Afridi was in prison at that time. Imposing the death sentence, the judge also slapped a fine of Rs 1 million (Pakistani currency) each on Afridi in two different cases relating to drug trafficking.
PTI |
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Dutch Queen ‘richer’ than Elizabeth New York, June 28 Forbes said much of the wealth associated with the British monarchy — including Buckingham Palace, the crown jewels and the royal art collections — belonged to the British state. Still, the 75-year-old Elizabeth and her family own Balmoral Estate in Scotland and other real estate with a total value of $ 150 million, along with art, furniture, horses and jewellrey valued at some $ 11 million. The rest of the British royal family’s fortune is in stocks and bonds, despite a loss of about $ 140,000 in getmapping.com. an Internet venture. In the Netherlands, Beatrix, 63, and the royal House of Orange have a big part of their fortune in the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. At one time, Forbes said, the royals owned as much as 25 per cent of the oil company, but that their stake is now estimated at a minimum of 2 per cent, worth $ 2.7 billion on May 21. The family also has an estimated 1 per cent stake in financial services firm ABN-AMRO. Forbes noted that the Dutch royal family transferred its palaces to the Dutch state in 1969 in exchange for an annual tax-free salary and that Beatrix received $ 3.1 million last year.
AFP |
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Taliban denies change in decision Islamabad, June 28 Information Ministry official Abdul Hannan Himmat told the Pakistan-based private news agency from Kabul that no formal order had been issued to implement the decision. Himmat was commenting on a report by the Islamabad newspaper The News that two Pakistani diplomats had persuaded the Islamic Taliban to change the decision because of the adverse international reaction to it. Himmat was also unaware of any move to replace the
distinguishing yellow mark with a special ID card as reported by The News.
DPA |
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Advani for better ties with neighbours Ankara, June 28 “Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has taken the initiative to invite Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf for summit-level talks. With the proposed summit, a further direction has been given to Mr Vajpayee’s peace efforts,” Mr Advani told his Turkish counterpart Rustin Kazim Yucelen during a meeting here.
PTI |
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