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Saturday,
August 25, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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No Pak plan to ban militant outfits Durban, August 24 The crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe, where self-styled war veterans are seizing white-owned farms, has taken a new meaning in South Africa with some Indians who were dispossessed of their land in the apartheid era. Hold fire, Russia tells Israel
Skopje, August 24 NATO has settled on a “credible” estimate of “somewhere over 3,000” weapons to be collected by its troops from ethnic Albanian guerrillas under a peace plan in Macedonia, Western diplomats said today.
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| News Analysis N. Ireland: light at end of tunnel switched off AS the saying goes... there is always light at the end of the tunnel. But what if the tunnel does not end? How can one perceive the light at the end of it? The current political situation and the spluttering peace process in Northern Ireland had led the world through a tunnel whose end is not in sight. Massive quakes ‘overdue’ in India, Pak
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No Pak plan to ban militant outfits Islamabad, August 24 The police crackdown in Karachi during the past two days was mostly confined to arresting the activities of the two groups — Lashkar-e-Jhagvi and Sipha-e-Mohammad — recently banned by the government for fanning sectarian violence between Shias and Sunnis, defence spokesman Major-Gen Rashid Qureshi told newsmen here today. Asked about reports about the arrest of members of militant outfits in Sindh province and ban on their fund collection in the name of “jehad”, Qureshi said no “jehadi” groups operated from Pakistan. “Jehadis do not exist at all in Pakistan,” he said adding some militant groups operating in Kashmir had their offices in Pakistan “like the PLO or the IRA which had offices in a number of other countries.” He said Pakistan extended diplomatic and moral support to Kashmir, “liberation” fighters “but none of them operated from Pakistan.” Gen Qureshi said some of those arrested in Karachi on August 22 were not actually ‘jehadis’ but people who were attempting to collect funds in the name of “freedom struggle” in Kashmir. “They have been arrested and their fund collection boxes seized because it is illegal”, he said. His remarks came after a minister had said the government had no plan to ban militant outfits, including those operating in Kashmir, and religious seminaries. Minister for Religious Affairs, Mehmood Ahmad Ghazi, also denied any pressure being exerted by the international community to ban the jehadi outfits and restrict the activities of Islamic religious seminaries, considered to be a breeding ground for the recruitment of militants. On the crackdown against the militant outfits, he told reporters at Rawalpindi that the southern Sindh provincial government had banned only the public display of arms and open collection of funds by militant groups in the name of jehad. Recently Pakistan’s military regime also promulgated an ordinance to streamline the activities of the seminaries called madarasas.
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SA Indians threaten
Mugabe-type action Durban, August 24 With the entire Southern African economy now plunged into crisis by the Zimbabwean actions, the Malacca Ex-Ratepayers Association has threatened to adopt the same policy if the local city authorities do not take steps to return their ancestral properties to them. The “ex” in the organisation’s title comes from the fact that its members were all former residents of the Malacca Road suburb, about 10 km from the centre of the city, before they were forcibly removed under apartheid legislation and resettled in the sprawling Indian townships of Phoenix, about 20 km north of Durban, and Chatsworth, 25 km to the south. Their properties were handed down to them by their forebears, who owned them after first settling in the area shortly after the first Indians arrived in Durban in 1860 as indentured labourers on sugarcane plantations. With the advent of the new democratic order in South Africa, restitution measures have been introduced to return to Indian, black and coloured (mixed race) South Africans, wherever possible, property that was taken away from them and, in most instances, given to whites. But former residents of Malacca Road claim although the land remains vacant, the Durban City Council is refusing to return it to the heirs of the more than 4,000 owners whose homes were razed to the ground after they were displaced. The outspoken secretary of the association, Robin Naidoo, said his members would consider an invasion of the type in Zimbabwe — where white-owned land is being seized with the approval of President Robert Mugabe — if no “We have a bit of a Mugabe-type situation, but where Uncle Bob (Mugabe) is taking it from the white farmers and giving it to the black people, here in South Africa we have the council taking from the Indians and giving it to the white community,” Naidoo earlier told the weekly, Extra. “We need someone like Uncle Bob to help us go and occupy the land,” he added. Naidoo’s other controversial statements have included claims that he had called senior council officials “anti-Indian” and “racist” in letters written by him. The council has said the vacant land is required for a new cemetery for Durban, where space in existing cemeteries has become an acute problem with the huge increase in burials in recent years. This has been attributed to the high death toll from HIV/AIDS in the region. But Naidoo said a church for the whites had been built on the site while he had been pursuing the matter for the past decade.
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Hold fire, Russia tells Israel Moscow, August 24 Israel said the overnight incursion into the West Bank city of Hebron, during which troops blew up two houses, was in retaliation for an attack that wounded an 11-year-old boy. "Decisive steps must be taken to prevent criminal acts by extremists," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "At the same time, disproportionate use of force, acts of repression which make innocent people suffer, should be stamped out." "Actions like the Israeli raid into the 'A' zone under full control of the Palestinian national administration further complicate the situation. They do nothing to boost security and only undermine it instead," the ministry said. The ministry said Russia welcomed a planned meeting between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and hoped that the talks, agreed with the mediation of German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, would be productive. The meeting under Fischer's auspices is due to take place this week, possibly in Berlin. Tel Aviv: Two Palestinians were killed and 15 were injured in fresh violence in Hebron last night, according to Israeli reports today. Israeli troops moved into the autonomous Palestinian part of Hebron and destroyed two houses from which militant Palestinians had reportedly fired shots at two Jewish children, injuring them. The casualties came in an exchange of fire between Palestinians and Israeli security forces. Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres late yesterday said a planned meeting with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat would not be enough to stop the cycle of violence. Peres, in an interview with Israeli television late yesterday, said the planned meeting, which might take place in Berlin or in Switzerland, would be only the first in a series of meetings. United Nations: The USA has reiterated its opposition to any action by the UN Security Council on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but said it might accept a non-binding statement on the crisis. “Any resolution is a non-starter as far as we are concerned,” the acting US Ambassador to the UN, Mr James Cunningham, told reporters yesterday after the 15 council members met for an hour in private to discuss the crisis.
Reuters, DPA. AFP |
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NATO to collect ‘over 3,000’ rebel arms Skopje, August 24 Major-Gen Gunnar Lange, commander of the 3,800-strong NATO mission to whom rebels are to voluntarily disarm in exchange for better Albanian minority rights, refused to confirm the politically sensitive figure but said it would be announced after NATO briefed the government later in the day. “The first figures we got from the (guerrillas) were not really credible. So we required further discussions. I believe the number we have now is credible and close to our own intelligence assessments,” he told a news conference. A Western diplomat close to the NATO mission said the initial figure of 2,000 to 2,500 weapons supplied by the guerrillas was too low but Macedonian estimates of anywhere from 8,000 to 80,000 were too high. He said NATO now had an estimate of “somewhere over 3,000” weapons believed to be “credible, accurate and non-negotiable”.
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News Analysis AS the saying goes... there is always light at the end of the tunnel. But what if the tunnel does not end? How can one perceive the light at the end of it? The current political situation and the spluttering peace process in Northern Ireland had led the world through a tunnel whose end is not in sight. The tragedy in Northern Ireland has continued for decades and the religious war over the Protestants and Catholics made one wonder if these groups really believed in Jesus Christ’s teachings . More than 30,000 people, among them civilians including women and children, had perished. Yet the fanatics on both sides would not adopt a give and take attitude and work towards permanent peace. As the situation in the strife-torn province resembles a jigsaw puzzle where one vital piece is always missing, hopes and despair arrived in turn leaving the people perplexed, worried and angry. Some ten days back, there was once again hopes of a breakthrough in the peace progress. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) finally gave a pledge to put its arsenal of weapons completely beyond use. Arms surrender had always been a ticklish issue in the peace progress. In the no-holds-barred civil war situation, those who possessed the most modern weapons, could call the shots. But this time, the IRA proposal on the arms surrender was so convincing that the Canadian General John de Chastelain, who was supervising the peace operations, termed it as a significant move forward. The latest of the peace agreements, which came into effect from the last Good Friday, would not have amounted to much but for some kind of settlement on the arms surrender issue. But for this, some progress had been made on the ceasefire and political give and take. Broad areas of the agreement covered the recruitment to the local police force. IRA sceptics appeared to be convinced on the sincerity of the proposal. Moderate Unionists agreed that the IRA had gone further ahead than its previous offers for peace. The Ulster Unionist Party headed by David Trimble, which stood for the Protestants’ interests, reacted fairly positively. But the euphoria was too good to last long. Hawkish elements in the Ulster Unionist Party struck first. They had forced the resignation of Trimble in July as head of the provincial government on the ground that Unionists were no longer keen to share power with Sinn Fein, so long as the IRA did not give up its hold on the arms. The hawks, under the leadership of Jeffrey Donaldson, a political rival of Trimble, openly rejected the latest IRA offer on the surrender of arms and instead, announced that the Unionists would agree to nothing short of total destruction of arms. This was attempting a long jump where a step by step process was needed. The IRA would never agree to the total destruction to its huge arsenal, unless and until permanent peace arrived over the region and Catholics got their due share of power. Their intention was clear: derail the peace progress before it became too late! It was then that Trimble’s reputation as a moderate suffered. With the hardliners on both sides consolidating their position, Trimble cast his lot with the hawks and announced that the Unionists would not return to the government until the IRA began to destroy its prized collection of arms. This was nothing but blackmail of the worst kind. Trimble, of course, had little choice in the matter. Had be gone along with the IRA offer, he could have lost his leadership of the Unionists and the peace process would have sunk for good. It was perhaps his intention to lose one or two rounds of the fight and then claw back to power once more. The Irish Republicans were of course, furious. They had offered in good faith, the surrender of arms and if the Unionists reacted in the way they did, it could be good bye to the peace process. So it was back to square one. The IRA withdrew its arms surrender offer. The Unionists dubbed the arms surrender as a publicity stunt and a ploy to win more concessions from the British government. Once again the threat of violence was very much in the air. In the meantime, three IRA activists were arrested in Colombia and accused of negotiating an arms deal with the Colombian guerrillas. With both sides holding fast to their respective position and with no agreement likely by September 20, the chances are that the Assembly would have to be suspended or dissolved altogether and fresh elections ordered. Even a newly elected assembly has little scope to bring peace. Much of the blame for the current impasse, lay with the Unionists. The IRA, unlike other militant forcers all over the world, made a positive gesture when it
offered to surrender its arms. This positive development could have revived the peace process. But that was not to be, the small light at the end of the tunnel had again been switched off. |
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Massive
quakes ‘overdue’ in India, Pak Washington, August 24 Writing in the journal Science, geophysicists Roger Bilham and Peter Molnar of the University of Colorado and Vinod Gaur of the Indian Institute for Astrophysics in Bangalore analysed geological evidence and examined historical records regarding earthquakes in the region. “Our message is that a careful evaluation of all the data indicates that large earthquakes are overdue and that earthquake-resistant design should be taken very seriously indeed,” Mr Bilham said in an interview. While historical records are spotty, Mr Bilham said there appear to have been fewer great earthquakes in the Himalayan region than one would expect in the past 300 years, suggesting that the continuously building pressures could trigger huge quakes. The concentration of millions of people in large cities makes the potential human toll almost unimaginable, Mr Bilham said. Major earthquakes in the Himalayan region could place at risk the capital cities of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, in addition to other large cities.
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