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Wednesday,
March 6, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Monks oppose Norway’s mediation bid Five Israelis shot, 16 Palestinians killed
India, Pak listed for rights abuses Pearl
case: prosecutors yet to find proof India ‘target’ of radical Islamic
groups
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Musharraf hikes pay for self, ministers US planes pound Afghan mountains Assad has talks
on Saudi plan
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Monks oppose Norway’s mediation bid Colombo, March 5 About 200 saffron-robed Buddhist monks chanted hymns as they marched to the Norwegian embassy in Colombo, a potent gesture that has thwarted many previous peace bids in country where Buddhism is the faith of 70 per cent of the people. “We earnestly request of you to leave the country instead of interfering in our internal affairs,” the monks of the National Bhikku Front said in a letter to Norwegian Ambassador Jon Westborg. Ignoring Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s pleas for support for the peace bid, the monks denounced an indefinite ceasefire agreement signed last month between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. “The agreement is completely one sided, an LTTE-biased agreement. It is certain that you got instructions from America in this respect,” said the letter. “Though you should act as an independent mediator, your one-sided role is despicable,” it said. The National Bhikku Front led the last major anti-peace protest two years ago when monks besieged parliament to block constitutional concessions to the largely Hindu Tamil minority. Tuesday’s protest began a day after Wickremesinghe, elected in December, called for an end to the political bickering that has scuppered many previous attempts to end the conflict which has killed 64,000 people. The truce has also drawn fire from Wickremesinghe’s arch-rival President Chandrika Kumaratunga, a member of the main Opposition party, who accused Norway of violating Sri Lanka’s sovereignty by going too far to end the nearly two decades of ethnic bloodletting — a charge dismissed by the government. “We have asked Norway to do everything in its power to...end the conflict,” government spokesman G.L. Peiris, who is also Minister of Constitutional Affairs, told a news conference. Peiris said the head of the Scandinavian monitoring mission would travel to rebel-held territory in northern Sri Lanka on Wednesday to meet rebel chieftain Velupillai Prabhakaran. Retired Norwegian General Trond Furuhovde leads a team of 18 monitors from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland who will try to keep the guns silent as the two sides move towards their first peace talks in seven years.
Reuters |
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Five Israelis shot, 16 Palestinians killed
Nablus (West Bank), March 5 “In response to the recent wave of murderous terrorist attacks, the Israeli military has used helicopters to target police headquarters in Ramallah and in
Nablus,” an Israeli army spokesman said. Palestinian security sources said Israeli Apache helicopters fired missiles at Jneid Prison and a police station in Nablus and at another police facility in Ramallah. Earlier in the day, Palestinians shot dead five Israelis in two suicide attacks and a roadside ambush, and Israel killed a Palestinian in a gun battle in the West Bank as tit-for-tat violence escalated. Israel stepped up its heavy military retaliation against Palestinians, killing at least 16 persons, including a mother and her three children in a botched tank attack, and then launching air strikes a report from Ramallah said. Late yesterday, Apache helicopter gunships launched two missiles at a building in Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah setting off large explosions. Arafat was unhurt, officials said, but the missiles punched wide holes in the intelligence services building just up the road from the office where he has been largely confined by the Israeli military since December 3. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is “directly responsible” for the string of attacks which killed five Israeli today, an Israeli Government spokesman said, accusing Arafat of wanting to “plunge Israel into a bloodbath”. “He is the one who is giving the orders,” Avi Pazner told AFP. “I can tell you that this is coming directly from Arafat... who speaks directly with his minions, like Bargouti or the head of Force 17”, he said, in a reference to West Bank fatah chief Marwan Bargouti and Arafat’s elite bodyguard. AFP HEBRON: Israeli troops raided Hebron and a Palestinian-ruled town near the West Bank city early today,killing one Palestinian and wounding 10 others in exchanges of fire, Palestinian security and hospital sources said. Troops entered the town of Dura, south of Hebron, with bulldozers and tanks and demolished a house while coming under fire. One man was killed and five wounded in the town. Troops also entered the Palestinian-controlled sector of Hebron and wounded five Palestinians. JERUSALEM: A Palestinian opened fire early today in two Tel Aviv restaurants, killing at least three persons before he himself was fatally shot. The police said the M-16-wielding assailant was killed by a patron. Twentysix persons were also wounded in the attack. The
Al-Aqsa Brigades, a militant wing of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s ruling the Fatah faction, has claimed the responsibility.
Agencies |
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India, Pak listed for rights abuses Washington, March 5 India fared hardly better, with the report rebuking the country’s death of suspects in police custody, fake encounters and excessive use of force by the security forces. The State Department’s “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices’’ submitted to the Congress yesterday, noted that although there were some improvements, the Pakistan Government’s human rights record remained poor. The Pakistan police committed numerous extra-judicial killings and were engaged in rape and abuse of citizens, the report said. And despite this record, “no officer has been convicted and very few have been arrested,’’ it added. Prison conditions in Pakistan remained “extremely poor and life threatening, and police arbitrarily arrested and detained citizens,’’ the report said. Improvements cited in Pakistan’s human rights record were in areas such as protection of religious minorities from intimidation from extremists. However, Pakistan’s human rights record did not evidently affect US aid to the country. After being enlisted as a key US ally in the war against terrorism Pakistan received financial aid and $ 1 billion write off in debt. The report, which reviewed conditions of about 200 countries and territories, also cited Russia and China for violations. On India, the report said the Government “generally respected’’ the human rights of its citizens in some areas but numerous serious problems remained ‘’in many significant areas.’’ Significant human rights abuses in India, it said, included extra-judicial killings, including faked encounter killings, deaths of suspects in police custody throughout the country, and excessive use of force by security forces combating active insurgencies in Jammu and Kashmir and several northeastern states. It also cited torture and rape by police and other agents of the government, poor prison conditions, arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast and continued detention throughout the country of thousands arrested under special security legislation. Many of these abuses are generated by a traditionally hierarchical social structure, it said, that was deeply rooted in tensions among the country’s ethnic and religious communities and deficient training methods for the police. These problems were acute in Jammu and Kashmir, where “judicial tolerance of the government’s heavy-handed counter insurgency tactics, the refusal of security forces to obey court orders, and terrorist threats have disrupted the judicial system.’’ Secretary of State Colin Powell said the report provided a “comprehensive and accurate picture’’ of human rights conditions throughout the world.
UNI |
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Pearl case: prosecutors yet to find proof Washington, March 5 They admit that they have little concrete evidence linking the defendants to the alleged crimes, The Washington Post reported today quoting officials monitoring the case. However, a report on the probe delivered recently to senior members of the Musharraf administration concluded that the evidence in the case is so fragile that the defence team could trounce the prosecution, according to a senior government official familiar with the analysis. Meanwhile, Sheikh Omar Saeed, under police detention for his suspected involvement in the kidnapping of US journalist Daniel Pearl, has refused to eat since Saturday demanding that he be allowed to meet his father. Karachi: Pakistan said that no laws would be violated if it decides to extradite to the USA the confessed mastermind of slain American reporter Daniel Pearl’s abduction. After assurances by the public prosecutor, the high court of southern Sindh province threw out a petition filed by the wife of chief suspect Sheikh Omar, asking that the British-born Islamic militant not be extradited.
PTI, AFP |
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India ‘target’ of radical Islamic groups Washington, March 5 “Radical Islamic fundamentalist groups pose a major terrorist threat to US interests and friendly regimes” including India, says CRS. Available policy actions range from diplomacy, international cooperation, and constructive engagement to economic sanctions, covert action, physical security enhancement and military force, it adds. PTI |
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Musharraf hikes pay for self, ministers Islamabad, March 5 The raise was notified by the Cabinet Division to all the officials concerned including the Accountant-General of Pakistan Revenue to enable the federal and state ministers to draw their enhanced salaries, The News said. President Musharraf has already issued two ordinances recently to enhance his own salary and that of Supreme Court and High Court judges. According to the amendment to the President’s Salary, Allowances and Privileges Act 1975, the President’s salary has been increased to Rs 57,000 from Rs 23,000, with effect from May 1, 2001.
PTI |
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US planes pound Afghan mountains Gardez, March 5 US President George W. Bush sent his “prayers and tears” to the families of seven members of the military killed yesterday in the biggest single-day loss of US life of the campaign.
AFP |
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Assad has talks on Saudi plan Riyadh, March 5 Officials said Assad flew into Jeddah on his first visit since Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, floated a proposal last month suggesting Arab states establish full ties with Israel if it quit all Arab lands occupied in the 1967 war. Syria, officially at war with Israel, has made no direct comment on the Saudi plan. But Assad has stressed the right of Palestinian refugees to return and the need to back Palestinians in revolt against occupation. “The talks are aimed at coordination...to make sure the initiative covers all the requirements so that it would succeed,” a Syrian diplomat said of Assad's visit.
Reuters |
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