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Saturday,
February 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Kargil led India to
‘rethink’ on J&K
WINDOW ON PAKISTAN Bin Laden vows to fight USA till death
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NATO support not automatic:
Robertson Floods give free rein to looters
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EU regrets Mugabe’s press curbs; no sanctions
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Kargil led India to ‘rethink’ on J & K Washington, February 1 For India, Kargil confirmed the belief that “Pakistan is a reckless, adventuristic and untrustworthy state. Kargil motivated India to reconsider whether to engage Pakistan diplomatically in the Kashmir issue,” the Rand Corporation says in a study. “Kargil has seriously compromised the legitimacy of Pakistan’s claims on Kashmir. India is not likely to give Pakistan a chance to flirt with Kargil-like scenarios in the future. New Delhi will watch the border in Kashmir and elsewhere carefully and redouble its efforts to prevent infiltration,” the study co-authored by Mr Ashley J.Tellis, adviser to the US Ambassador to India, says. The most important lesson India learned from Kargil, says Rand, was that it must be prepared to counter a wide range of Pakistani threats that may be mounted by what is essentially a reckless but tenacious adversary. On Pakistan’s part, the study says, its evaluation of the consequences of Kargil had been ambiguous, even as its most likely strategy appeared to be increasing its support for insurgency throughout India. “Islamabad remains passionately focussed on ‘resolving’ Kashmir, and its support for insurgency is ulikely to dissipate any time soon”, the Rand observes. “India understands that the most likely strategy for Pakistan will be increasing its support for insurgency and for terrorist attacks throughout India,” the study says. “New Delhi also appreciates that this strategy is to Pakistan’s own disadvantage and further confirms Islamabad as a sponsor of Islamist terrorism (but)... India will continue to exhibit restraint.” Though Pakistan believes that use of its troops in Kargil has invited political failure, it does not imply that Islamabad has concluded that other forms of violence are illegitimate or ineffective. “Ugly stability” — the persistence of unconventional conflicts — will probably endure in the region. State-sponsored terrorism will remain an attractive mode of operation in a large part because conventional conflicts remain risky,” Rand says. “Musharraf may understand the dividends that could accrue to Pakistan’s development if he can sell a compromise on the Kashmir issue to the Pakistan polity.” However, any move by him in this direction would invite a study.
PTI |
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WINDOW ON PAKISTAN Has Gen Pervez Musharraf freed his country from “jehadis” and their torturous and treacherous rule? The answer is both yes and no. If one reads newspapers like The Dawn, The Nation and the independent weekly, The Friday Times, one finds that the agenda which the Pakistani President set forth in his famous and much applauded January 12 address to his beleaguered nation and to the world at large is not even half finished. The creation of a civil society and democratic polity for a moderate and modern Pakistan to flourish is nowhere. In fact, as a columnist in The Dawn rued that the General is aiming at being the President for the next five years with hand-picked legislators in the national and state assemblies to put a stamp of democracy on the military dictatorship. But it is the Urdu press, which feels now free from the coercive clutches of the fundamentalists, that is supporting the General. What has really emboldened the Urdu press, by and large hawkish as far India is concerned, is the fact that the government’s effort first to control arms supply and then funds to the jehadis has had a degree of success. It is true much of the money was taken away from banks since the extremist Islamic elements had sufficient advance information, yet most of the top and the middle level leaders are in jail and mounting international pressure has forced many to hide. But jehadis will never be completely out though they may be down for the moment. The reason is that Musharraf is yet to dismantle the Islamic basis of the Pakistani state. The Shariat law and courts are very much there and so is the Islamic Council. In fact, some extremist organisations are still not banned. Nevertheless the demand to establish a secular democracy is gaining ground. In most cities the silent majority is asserting as is clear from seminars and public meetings all across Pakistan. Early last month Lahore witnessed a major meeting where important jurists, journalists and former army officers spoke with force against the jehadis. The issue was what kind of Pakistan the people wanted. And the answer was provided by thinkers like the well-known diplomat Iqbal Akhund, columnist Khaled Ahmed and Cecil Chaudhry, Pakistan’s hero during the 1965 war. They all wanted a secular, democratic and tolerant Pakistan. In fact, the invitation card quoted Mohammed Ali Jinnah who in his famous speech on August 11, 1947, had declared that “in course of time, Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, but in the political sense as citizens of the state”. Writing in The Friday Times, the journalist, Imran Khalid Khan brought home some truths about political life of Pakistan. “What are the choices available to the present rulers? Keep playing second fiddle to the USA and over a period of time turn the Pakistani state into a banana republic as The Dawn said. Or establish a true democracy, which could effectively curb extremists, put the country back on the rails and make it economically and politically strong. Only then could it stand up to Western powers”. But sooner or later the General is bound to meet the fate of his predecessors, Bhutto, Zia and Nawaz Sharif. Did not Bhutto declare that he would rule for 25 years and was gone in five months and within 25 months, he was no more? The same happened to Gen Zia who, nevertheless just to keep himself in power, pushed the country to medieval times and it has suffered for 20 long years, sans freedom and sans democracy”, lamented the press. There was also good deal of criticism of Indian or the present BJP leadership trying to cultivate the ousted and corrupt Benazir Bhutto who had declared “hundred years of war” with India and mouthed the infamous slogan “goli chalao”. Essentially the media except the government-controlled radio and television are feeling free to take the government to task while being supportive of its measures to curb religious extremism. There is also a feeling some newspapers like The Dawn and The Friday Times that apart from terrorists, the current stand-off between Indian and Pakistan is being exploited by hostile criminal and mafia dons. Reports in the media suggest that the attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13 was the handiwork of those who wanted to complicate matters between India and Pakistan to that extent that Musharraf is completely finished and if the two countries to go war, so much the better. Clearly the jehadis created, funded, and trained by the Pakistani state and its army are now stronger than their creators. The fact that they can hijack the entire state is now becoming clear to the military bureaucratic establishment in Pakistan. |
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Bin Laden vows to fight USA till death Islamabad, February 1 “The battle has moved to inside America,” the Saudi-born dissident told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network in an interview with the broadcaster’s Kabul correspondent held at an undisclosed location on October 21. “We will work to continue this battle, god permitting, until victory or until we meet god,” Bin Laden added. Al-Jazeera never broadcast the interview and a tape was obtained by the US network CNN, which aired excerpts yesterday, sparking a row between the two broadcasters. Asked about his alleged involvement in the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington, Bin Laden said: “America has made many accusations against us and many other Muslims around the world. Its charge that we are carrying out acts of terrorism is unwarranted.” However, he added: “if inciting people to do that is terrorism, and if killing those who kill our sons is terrorism, then let history be witness that we are terrorists. Al-Jazeera, which said it declined to air the interview because it did not meet its standards and was not newsworthy, slammed CNN for broadcasting the tape.
AFP |
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Floods give free rein to looters Jakarta, February 1 More than 300,000 residents in Jakarta — a city of 12 million people — have been taking shelter in mosques, churches and even graveyards to escape some of the worst floods in the capital in decades, giving rise to health fears. Local media said 40 people had been killed in flooding and landslides throughout Indonesia triggered by monsoon rains that some officials said would peak here in the middle of February. Frustration boiled over in some areas in the capital and witnesses said police fired blanks into the air to disperse looters trying to steal from vehicles abandoned in the floods. “Diseases like diarrhoea will rise...we are trying to be pro-active in providing medical aid and we also have garbage at many places that we have to clean up daily using heavy equipment,” said Raya Siahaan from the city’s flood taskforce. “We have a tough task in front of us and state meteorologists say the climax will not come until mid-February,” he told Reuters, dismissing rumours that Jakarta’s dykes and watergates in the hilly southern outskirts had been damaged. The port city has been chaotic this week, with buses left abandoned on flooded roads and mountains of garbage washing by the windows of many homes. Thousands of residents have also been unable to reach their offices. Witnesses said police fired blanks to stop thieves stealing from several abandoned cars and buses stranded in a north Jakarta street. The authorities also said there had been several isolated incidents of looters breaking into flooded homes. “Looting has happened and we do not want to see any repeats, so if there’s any more looting, firing warning shots is indeed necessary,” Jakarta police spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam told newsmen. From late Thursday floods began to inundate roads again in Jakarta including the airport highway and landslides have blocked the railway connecting the metropolis and the West Java provincial capital of Bandung, three hours away, officials said. Floodwaters have reached up to six metres (20 feet) in several areas of Jakarta, forcing authorities to rescue residents in rubber rafts. Many homes have been left without power. Officials such as President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Jakarta governor Sutiyoso on Thursday checked flooded sites, although they received a chilly welcome in some places by residents who unfurled banners saying they wanted food, not visits. Megawati wept at the suffering of those affected, Antara reported. Callers to radio stations have slammed the city’s administration for not doing enough to resolve the water crisis.
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NATO support not automatic: Robertson New York February 1 NATO invoked Article 5 of its founding treaty after the September 11 terrorist attacks, declaring that these should be treated as a attack on all 19 members of the alliance. But NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson said on Thursday the decision was related to the specific attacks in New York and Washington and NATO would have to decide what to do about any new attack — so Article 5 wouldn’t carry over. “I think if the Americans could produce convincing evidence that there was a link between other countries and the attack that took place, then I think the allies would be seriously interested in that information,” he said. “But that hasn’t been forthcoming up to this moment.” Earlier, President George W. Bush has said that other nations should support him in taking a hard line against countries such as Iraq, Iran and North Korea because their weapons of mass destruction could strike anywhere.
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Kabul Hindus, Sikhs to get back property New York, February 1 The group met the Afghan leader at a reception hosted by the Afghans, one of a series of engagements on a tight nine-hour schedule here after arrival from Washington. Karzai made straight from the airport to the United Nations where he addressed the Security Council chaired this month by Mauritius. He thanked the world body for its support in the struggle to rid his land of the Taliban scourge, and asked for expansion and extension of the international force. Jagdish Koonjal, Permanent Representative of Mauritius to the United Nations, replied with a promise of continued UN attention to the needs of the war-ravaged land.
IANS |
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EU regrets Mugabe’s press curbs; no sanctions
Brussels, February 1 “We are profoundly disappointed that Zimbabwe’s Parliament has passed this law, which represents a fundamental attack on media freedom,” European Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten said. Zimbabwe’s Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill, passed by Parliament on Thursday, restricts access for foreign reporters and imposes tight controls on local media in the runup to the country’s March 9-10 presidential election. The 15-nation EU has threatened to slap “smart sanctions” against Mugabe and 19 other top officials — including a travel ban and a freeze on their overseas assets — if Zimbabwe fails to admit EU poll observers by a February 3 deadline. “The new law of itself does not make sanctions inevitable,” EU spokeswoman Emma Udwin told a daily news briefing. “The law does allow for internationally accredited media to operate for a limited period (during the election).” She added that Zimbabwe had also indicated it would allow EU election observers to deploy in the country in good time before the election, though Harare has also made clear that the team should not include British citizens. Britain, Zimbabwe’s former colonial power, has been the strongest international critic of Mugabe, who faces the biggest opposition challenge to his rule since he led the southern African country to independence 22 years ago. She said no meetings were planned in Brussels on the issue after the February 3 deadline. But EU Foreign Ministers are likely to review the situation when they meet in the Spanish town of Caceres on February 8-9. WASHINGTON: Britain and the USA condemned the tough media Bill passed by Zimbabwe’s Parliament. The revised Bill is the last of a series of bills that critics say will suppress criticism of President Robert Mugabe in the run-up to presidential elections in March and give security forces broad powers to deal with Mugabe’s opponents. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, speaking after talks in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, said: “I wholly condemn the passage of these press laws. I find it almost impossible to comprehend how free and fair elections can be held in Zimbabwe when such laws have been passed.” “That will be a matter which will have to be weighed very carefully in the balance by the European Union to decide whether the sanctions which in principle were decided upon early this week ought to be triggered,” he added.
Reuters |
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Mujahideen give up battle Gardez (Afghanistan), February 1 With snow beginning to fall on the mountains surrounding the rundown market town about 100 km south of Kabul, the fighters braved the wrath of their leader, incoming Governor Padsha Khan, and abandoned their mortar posts on hills overlooking the city in droves. Yesterday’s retreat was a surprisingly jolly affair, with soldiers joking and laughing as they headed away from the front line up the mountains towards their homes.
AFP |
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US
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has called for billions of
dollars in new spending on high-technology weapons to defend the
USA against "the unknown, the uncertain...the unseen and the
unexpected" after the September 11 attacks. 
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