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Sunday,
February 10, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Ex-Taliban Foreign Minister surrenders
Pervez
sees India’s hand in Pearl case 6 travellers shot Bartering brides for flour |
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Guns
pass UK airport screening
Maoists bomb house
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Ex-Taliban Foreign Minister surrenders
Washington, February 9 A Pentagon spokesman said former Taliban Foreign Minister Mullah Abdul Wakil Muttawakil turned himself in voluntarily to the US military in Kandahar. “The former Taliban Foreign Minister turned himself in voluntarily and is now under US control at the detention centre in Kandahar,” Lieut-Col Ken McClellan told AFP. “I don’t think they’re discussing the particulars of how it came about,” Colonel McClellan said. The US authorities were questioning the former official, CBS news reported, citing US officials speaking on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, US soldiers searched an area in eastern Afghanistan early today after a CIA missile hit a group of senior Al-Qaida members, apparently, including a tall man who was being treated with great deference by those around him. A US official refused to say whether suspicions centred on Osama bin Laden. “He was clearly someone who was senior,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “But beyond that I can’t take you any further than that, and there are a number of senior Al-Qaida guys who are taller than average.” Air Force General Richard Myers, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said more than 50 US troops were inserted in the Zhawar Kili area to determine who was hit in the strike but had not yet reported on any finds from the site. Asked whether Bin Laden was believed to be among those targeted, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, “We just simply have no idea.” The strike was carried out with a single Hellfire missile fired from a CIA-operated Predator unmanned reconnaissance aircraft at a group of suspected Al-Qaida people in an area previously occupied by Al-Qaida, the US official said. KABUL: Meanwhile, Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah on Saturday branded Mullah Abdul Wakil Muttawakil, who has handed himself over to US officials, a war criminal who should be brought to trial. “Taliban leaders have committed crimes against humanity in Afghanistan,” Mr Abdullah told a media conference. “There is no political role for such war criminals.” Commenting on the fact Muttawakil was in the hands of the US military, he said the Afghan authorities in conjunction with coalition forces were hunting for all Taliban leaders, whether they are hiding inside or outside Afghanistan. Mr Abdullah said leaders of the vanquished Taliban movement were regrouping outside Afghanistan and forming new organisations to oppose the government in Kabul. “The Taliban leaders...apparently they are running new organisations,” Mr Abdullah told reporters in Kabul. “There are two organisations outside Afghanistan,” he said. “We do not have details of the organisations or their structure but on the whole it is not acceptable that the Taliban be able to act either outside or inside Afghanistan in any capacity.” Discussions were held with Pakistani authorities, when Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai and nine Cabinet Ministers visited Islamabad yesterday, on the issue of Taliban regrouping on the borders of Pakistan under two new names. One, Abdullah said, was “Khoda Mulfoqan”, but he did not know the name of the other. “I was also assured that they would take measures to stop those activities,” he said. Agencies
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Pervez
sees India’s hand in Pearl case Washington, February 9 In
his first extensive comments on the abduction of Pearl missing for 18
days, Musharraf in an interview to the ‘Washington Post’ suggested
that Pearl, who disappeared in Karachi on January 23, may have been a
pawn in an intelligence “game” being played by India. Musharraf
in the interview in Islamabad before leaving for the USA on an
official visit said, “It’s (abduction) very much a possibility
that it has been done by the Indians, orchestrated by the Indians.
That’s what we are looking into.” Musharraf offered no new
information to support his statements but said “indirect indications”
suggested Sheikh Omar Saeed, the prime suspect in the kidnapping of
Pearl and the leader of the Pak-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad, could have
been acting in concert with India India has already dismissed
similar allegations of complicity in the Pearl’s case coming from
Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar in Berlin and the spokesman of his
government. “We all know intelligence is a very bad game and they
can come out with any kind of game to justify or to organise or
orchestrate such kind of activities. These are common activities
orchestrated by the intelligence agencies,” Musharraf said.
PTI |
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6 travellers shot
Islamabad, February 9 AIP said unidentified armed robbers yesterday attacked a convoy on the Nimruz-Kandahar highway near Ghor Ghori, centre of Nimruz province, killing four travellers. In a similar incident near Adi Khuma situated at the Herat-Kandahar highway, two travellers were gunned down. Reuters
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Bartering brides for flour Islamabad, February 9 Describing the shocking poverty in parts of Herat and Farah provinces in western Afghanistan, the Red Crescent assessment mission said on Thursday that girls were offered as brides for as little as 100 kg of wheat flour, according to the Pakistan daily. These remote mountainous valleys and villages, which have been cut off from the outside world for years, are facing great deprivation, the combined affects of 23 years of war and the past three years of drought.
UNI |
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Guns pass UK airport screening
London, February 9 The failure took place during a recent security test with the full knowledge of the airline, a spokeswoman for the airport in northern England said. There was no risk to passengers during the exercise, she said. Global Air Training, which carried out the test on behalf of the airport — the busiest UK airport outside London — hid a cache of arms in a bag which was screened by the security staff employed by Securicor ADI. An operator manning a scanning machine failed to spot the weapons and the bag was allowed into the hold of the Boeing 737 jet bound for London’s Gatwick Airport. The 23 “smuggled’’ suspect items included two guns — a .38 Rossi revolver and a Baby Browning pistol — blocks of fake Semtex explosive and detonators. “These items... were not detected by an external security company, Securicor ADI, employed at Manchester Airport to operate hold baggage screening,’’ the airport said in a statement. It said it understood that the employee involved in the incident had been suspended. Securicor officials were not immediately available for comment. Reuters
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Princess Margaret dead
London, February 9 Margaret suffered a series of health problems in recent years and Queen Elizabeth announced the death “with great sadness” in a statement issued by Buckingham Palace. “Her beloved sister, Princess Margaret, died peacefully in her sleep this morning at 6.30 a.m. in King Edward VII Hospital. Her children, Lord Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto, were at her side,” the statement said. “Princess Margaret suffered a further stroke yesterday afternoon. She developed cardiac problems during the night and was taken from Kensington Palace to King Edward VII Hospital at 2.30 am,” said the palace. Margaret had battled ill health since middle age and will be remembered as the princess who gave up true love in youth to ward off a constitutional crisis. The death of the Princess will cast a shadow over the Queen’s golden jubilee celebrations being marked this year. Reuters
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Maoists bomb house
Kathmandu, February 9 Rebels hurled a bomb on a village house of Minister of State for Education and Sports Narayan Prasad Saud completely destroying it. However, nobody was in the house when the bomb exploded. Maoists also hurled a bomb at the District Development Committee building in Surkhet district today causing some damage to the building. A Defence Ministry press note said three rebels were killed. PTI
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