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| Friday,
August 31, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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LTTE
rejects Chandrika’s ceasefire offer No treaty
violated in arms supply to Pak: China Dalits
enter Nepal’s holiest temple |
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House
rejects bill on alien ships Benazir
kin’s bail plea turned down 
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LTTE rejects Chandrika’s ceasefire offer Colombo, August 30 “Peace talks are not a crisis management exercise to be invoked at the pleasure of a government which is on the verge of a collapse,’’ the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said in a statement today on the pro-rebel Tamilnet web site. “The LTTE is not naive to jump on a sinking ship,’’ the statement quoted the LTTE’s chief negotiator Anton Balasingham as saying. The ceasefire offer had signalled a dramatic shift in the position of the government which had previously rebuffed calls for any mutually agreed truce before negotiations began, a key rebel demand which had stalled a
Norwegian-brokered peace bid. Balasingham called the government’s offer “a calculated political duplicity to divert the attention of the people and the world from the deepening crisis in Colombo’’. “The LTTE is not prepared to enter into negotiations with a corrupt, inefficient, unstable government which does not have a majority in parliament,’’ he said. Meanwhile, the main moderate Tamil party is sceptical about the government’s plan to invite Tiger rebels for peace talks under a “mutually agreed” pre-talks ceasefire. Expressing its reservations on the move, the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) said the offer had been made by a weakened government and was likely to be rejected by the (LTTE). The government took the surprise decision following the failure of its talks with the main opposition United National Party (UNP) that had been earlier expected to lead to a new national government. TULF lawmaker Joseph Pararajasingham said: “There is scepticism about this government’s future after the failure of the talks with the Opposition. As such, the LTTE, which is much stronger now, might not accept a ceasefire.” The government had earlier refused to halt hostilities or revoke the ban on the LTTE before the start of negotiations, despite the LTTE’s insistence. “We have re-assessed the situation. This is a very serious option we are considering now,” Mr Kadirgamar said. He could not say when the invitation would be extended. The TULF spokesman said the government’s move could not be considered sincere as it rejected the LTTE’s four-month long ceasefire that ended in April. Meanwhile, two police constables and a civilian were killed in an explosion near a police station in a town in eastern Sri Lanka on Tuesday morning, Army officials here said. Seven civilians were also injured in the blast that went off in the coastal town of Kalmunai in Ampara district.
Reuters, IANS |
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No treaty
violated in arms supply to Pak: China Beijing, August 30 Neither “Pakistan nor the border dispute with India” was a major irritant in development of relations with New Delhi, Chinese Foreign Ministry’s top
bureaucrat Wang Yi said here today admitting that “lack of understanding” between two big
neighbours was a problem indeed. Asked on Chinese military assistance including missile and nuclear technology to Pakistan, Mr Wang said the military cooperation between China and Pakistan “has not violated any of China’s commitments to the international community or international conventions” to which China is a signatory. Dismissing Western media reports on the issue of supply of Chinese missile and nuclear technology to Islamabad, Mr Wang said some of the stories are “totally groundless. Such accusations are sheer fabrications without any basis”. In an exclusive interview given to a group of Indian mediapersons on a fortnight’s visit here, the Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister said: “China needs to maintain traditional friendship with Pakistan, and at the same time we very much hope to develop good-neighbourly and friendly relations with India. “We treasure our relationship with Pakistan”, he said in a very matter-of-fact tone. In a very cautious and balanced manner, Mr Wang said that “we do not want a zero sum game here - we do not need to oppose India in order to develop relations with Pakistan or to improve relations with India, we do not need to abandon our old friend. We hope to have friendly relations with both countries”. “Pakistan is an old friend of China and has helped China in troubled times”, the Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister, who is
equivalent to Indian’s Foreign Secretary, said. Stressing that “the old tradition of China’s diplomacy is that we do not forget old friends”. Dwelling on Sino-Indian ties, Mr Wang stressed on people-to-people relationship lamenting that the two
countries, which account for one-third of the global population, “do not have even a direct air link. This is strange. We are now making great efforts to start a direct flight,” Mr Wang said pointing out that lack of
passengers was one factor for such a delay in starting a direct air link. “At the same time through discussions and consultations between the two governments we are encouraging more Chinese people to go to India, including more tourists, but progress on this front with respect to South Asia has been very slow”, he said. “Let us just take Thailand for example. Every year one million Chinese private tourists go there at their own expense. India has rich tourism resources, so I think Chinese tourists would be very interested in going there,” Mr Wang pointed out, hoping that
direct flights can be started within this year. Indirectly asking both India and Pakistan to sort out their problems, Mr Wang welcomed the news that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was planning to meet Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. “Kashmir is a very complicated issue, as it not only involves territorial disputes but also involves ethnic and religious contradictions. So it is very difficult for me to sum up in one sentence. As a principle, China is opposed to any form of terrorism. There is no ambiguity about that. But on the specific question of Kashmir, I think India and Pakistan should sit down and discuss the issue because no one
understands the issue better than two of you. “In other words, if others who do not understand the Kashmir issue so well have to make a judgement, it is very likely to be a political judgement and not an objective one, that is, one would lean in favour of the party whom one favours”, Mr Wang said in reply to a question seeking the Chinese view on General Musharraf’s description of those killing in Kashmir as “freedom fighters”. To a question on how soon the boundary issue can be resolved, the Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister said negotiations were a give-and-take process. “If only one side has to give and the other side is not willing to do so, negotiations will not be possible. “As far as I know, the Indian Parliament has passed a legally binding resolution which says that India will not give a single inch of occupied territory. If that is the case then there is no room for negotiations”, Mr Wang said reiterating that boundary talks “need mutual understanding and mutual accommodation. “We feel rather comforted by the fact that both sides have agreed to shelve the boundary talks for the time being and to start the LAC (Line of Actual Control) clarification, thereby maintaining peace and tranquility on the LAC in the border areas”, he said expressing Chinese willingness to speed up the process. On the issue of US missile defence system (NMD), Mr Wang said this “will change the balance of power not only in this region but in the whole world”. “This missile defence programme is aimed at providing absolute security to the USA alone. No other country, including US allies, will have security. The US allies will not be able to protect themselves and would have to look up to USA for protection. In other words, it will be for one country to decide whether we have war or peace in the 21st century”, Mr Wang said adding that “the thinking behind the missile defence programme is in line with the thinking behind a unipolar world at the political level”. |
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Summit failed due to hardliners: Pak
Islamabad, August 30 He stated this while addressing the Northern Areas Legislative Council in Uiluil. On the last day of the summit Mr Vajpayee had agtreed on draft declaration and was ready to sign it, he said.
PTI |
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Dalits enter Nepal’s holiest temple Kathmandu, August 30 This is the first time ever that the low caste Hindus were able to enter the two temples, considered the holiest Hindu temples in Nepal in over a 1,000 years. In the past, the temple priests, who hail from southern India, had prevented the low caste Hindus from entering the temples saying that they were untouchables and could not offer worship there. According to newspaper reports, the march by the low caste Hindus to the temple went off peacefully. The march to the temples followed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s announcement earlier this month of a reforms package that included unhindered and unrestricted access to religious sites for low caste communities with threats of legal action against obstructers.
DPA |
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Record turnout
in Timor’s first poll Manatuto (East Timor), August 30 After centuries of foreign occupation, the death of a quarter of the population and the near-destruction of the territory, the election of a constituent assembly will bring independence, for which they have paid such a high price, closer. Today is also the second anniversary of a UN-run ballot that rejected Indonesian rule and unleashed a fury of killing and destruction by pro-Jakarta militias backed by Indonesian troops. Thousands turned out early for the ballot, dressed up for the occasion and walking anything up to 25 km in the pre-dawn darkness from the mountains and hills. Queues, hundreds of people long, stretched out of polling stations, along dusty roads and into nearby fields. Lining up in the 30-degree heat with his wife and baby son in his home village of Manatuto, a pretty sea-front town, about 40 km east of the capital, was voter No 0168677, East Timor’s President-in-waiting, Xanana Gusmao. “I am happy, happy for them because I feel that for them it is the beginning of a new life,” said a beaming Gusmao, a poet-turned-guerrilla leader who is virtually certain to win the presidential election next year. I believe this will be very calm, very peaceful. It shows the maturity of our people. It means we have confidence in the future. Despite fears of violence, there were no early reports of trouble and there was no air of tension as people waited patiently and quietly to cast their ballot. A total of 425,000 voters — all East Timorese aged above 17 — are eligible to vote. “I’d be surprised to see voter turnout less than 90 per cent and I would not be surprised to see 95 to 96 per cent,” the head of the UN Development Programme in East Timor, Mr Reske-Nielsen, told Reuters. “It bodes well for the future.” Fretilin, which spearheaded the fight for independence from Indonesia, is expected to win an overwhelming majority in the election, which is being contested by 16 parties and more than 1,000 candidates. The half-island territory — the other half is a part of Indonesian — has been a sea of colour as party faithful joined parades and rock concerts until the UN administration’s ban on political activity came into force on Tuesday. Despite fears of bloodshed and of raids by militiamen sheltered West Timor, the campaign has been remarkably peaceful. The 88-member assembly will draw up a constitution, paving the way for choosing a President, most likely in another election by April, and ultimately independence for the former Portuguese colony. Results are expected by about September 5 and the final tally on September 10.
Reuters |
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Israel pulls out of West Bank town Beit Jala, West Bank, August 30 Tanks, jeeps and armoured personnel carriers took the troops swiftly out of the little town, key areas of which they had occupied for some 50 hours, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene. Colonel Farouk Amin of the Palestinian liaison office in the sector confirmed the report of the troop withdrawal. An Israeli military spokesman said earlier that no Palestinian attacks had been launched during the night, the key condition for an Israeli withdrawal from the positions they had seized overnight Monday. However, Israeli public radio warned that army units posted at the entrance to Beit Jala remained were ready to return should Palestinian gunfire in the area resume. The green light for the troop withdrawal was given during a three-hour overnight meeting of the Israeli inner Cabinet. Israel and the Palestinians agreed yesterday to a ceasefire in Beit Jala, after Israel’s longest incursion of the uprising became bogged down by armed resistance and growing international criticism. Israel agreed that its troops would withdraw overnight if Palestinian shooting on the nearby Jewish settlement at Gilo, near east Jerusalem, was halted.
AFP |
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House rejects bill on alien ships Canberra, August 30 Australian troops boarded the Norwegian freighter carrying more than 400 asylum-seekers, after it defied government orders and steamed into Australian territorial waters on Wednesday as Australia, Indonesia and Norway bickered over who was responsible for its human cargo. Prime Minister John Howard failed to get an emergency bill through Parliament late Wednesday to toughen up Australian laws to eject unauthorised vessels, but was resolute that Australia still had the legal clout to expel the ship, the Tampa. “The legal position is that a ship is not entitled to remain in Australian territorial waters without our permission.” Howard told Australia’s Channel Nine television network. Howard refused to foreshadow Australia’s next move but stood firmly by his view that it was not Australia’s responsibility to accept the boat people who were rescued by the Tampa from a sinking Indonesian ferry in international waters five days ago. As well as 434 asylum seekers the Tampa also picked up four Indonesian crew and while the ferry was in international waters it was within Indonesia’s search-and-rescue area of responsibility. Howard has demanded the ship return to international waters and take the asylum-seekers back to Indonesia — but Jakarta has refused to accept the unwanted immigrants, renewing tensions between the neighbouring nations. Norway has also rejected responsibility for the asylum-seekers aboard its flag-carrying vessel and reported Australia to the United Nations bodies responsible for shipping and refugees for its handling of a humanitarian problem.
Reuters |
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Benazir
kin’s bail plea turned down Karachi, August 30 Former legislator Hakim Ali Zardari, who has been admitted to Ziauddin University Hospital, applied for bail on medical grounds. But Judge Azizullah Memon of the Accountability Court found no substance in defence arguments. Zardari was arrested for purchasing a luxurious apartment in France worth Rs 18 million during the year when he showed his total income up to Rs 1,200,000 from all resources in his tax documents. He bought the apartment in the name of his wife Alina.
IANS |
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Milosevic to
face genocide charge The Hague, August 30 |
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