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Friday,
March 29, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Pan-Arab endorsement for Saudi plan
A non-starter, says Israel Indians' hand in Oscar film |
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3 more graft cases against Hasina Church attack: 30 suspects held
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Pan-Arab endorsement for Saudi plan
Beirut, March 28 The summit adopted the proposal drafted by a commission from seven countries, he said. Libya’s representative, Minister for African Unity Abdessalam Triki, spoke before the text was adopted but did not express reservations. With the official adoption of the text, the Saudi peace initiative became a full fledged Arab peace project. It proposes “normal relations and security” for Israel in return for its pullout from Arab territories occupied by the Jewish state since 1967. The senior official did not confirm whether the initial Saudi proposal, put forward by Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz, had been modified. The final draft of the Arab peace deal with Israel had been held up over the sensitive issue of Palestinian refugees. But the issue was apparently resolved after a meeting earlier today between Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb. Delegates said the summit had also approved an agreement between Gulf war foes Iraq and Kuwait, the first of its kind since the 1990-91 Gulf crisis. Earlier, delegates haggled over the text of a resolution that would incorporate a proposal launched by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah to try to halt 18 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence and end a conflict that has pitted the Jewish state against Arabs since its creation in 1948. “There are people in the Middle East who would rather kill than have peace,’’ U.S. President George W. Bush said after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 19 Israelis in a hotel. But at the US State Department, Richard Boucher said the Arab summit was making progress, citing what he said was a ‘’very positive’’ speech by Crown Prince Abdullah. The summit went into a second day after an ill-tempered start when host Lebanon blocked plans for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to address Arab leaders by video link from the West Bank, where he has been confined by Israel since December. The Palestinian delegation, which had walked out in protest, but agreed to return after Arab leaders papered over a dispute that reflected rancour dating back to the role of Arafat and his guerrillas in Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war. Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath said Arab leaders were happy with a Saudi-drafted resolution, but were arguing over Lebanon’s demand to append an explicit rejection of any permanent settlement of Palestinian refugees on its territory. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said a Saudi initiative was a good first step but not yet a workable plan for peace. “We have agreed to the initiative and others have supported it,’’ Assad told foreign journalists at the summit. “The difference between us and the others is that we believe it is a first step... What is required is a mechanism (to implement it),’’ he added. “The initiative is only principles. What comes afterwards is the question we’re asking,’’ Assad said. “If we don’t put the steps for what comes after the initiative, Israel or others would put them for us.’’ Assad ruled out a peace deal with Israel’s Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, saying the Saudi initiative was not aimed at a certain Israeli official. Assad said a landmark deal that Iraq and Kuwait reached at the summit was an integral part of a confidence-building process between the two 1990-91 Gulf crisis foes. It was not linked to a dispute between Iraq and the USA over UN weapons inspectors or to widespread speculation about a possible US attack on Baghdad. Assad, echoing the Iraqi line, said the inspections issue was between Iraq and the United Nations, not the USA. He said Iraq was convinced that it should readmit the inspectors after a three-year break but was demanding “a specific mechanism and a timetable’’ for their work. The Syrian leader said the USA might use the issue as a pretext to attack Iraq, one of three countries President Bush has labelled as forming an “axil of evil’’. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for an immediate ceasefire in West Asia after a suicide bombing in Israel. Annan said he had telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Arafat. “I urge the leadership of both peoples to stay the course and continue the quest for peace,’’ he stated. “The essential first step is an immediate ceasefire.’’ TEHRAN: Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani of Iran has urged the Arab summit to adopt a collective support for the Palestinian intifada (uprising) against Israel, Tehran Radio said. “We hope that the Beirut summit will be able to reinforce the intifada and take realistic decisions that serve the interests of the world and the Muslim countries,” Rafsanjani said last evening, the radio said. “The intifada is a long-term popular movement and a cause of concern for the USA and the West,” he said as he met the Libyan and Japanese ambassadors to Iran. “It cannot be put down by Israeli aggression and use of force,” said Rafsanjani, who was reapppointed earlier this month by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to head the country’s top political arbitration body. The key condition to solve the Palestinian conflict “is the return of five million refugees to their homes”.
Reuters, AFP |
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A non-starter,
says Israel Jerusalem, March 28 The plan offers “normal relations” in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from all Arab land. It also calls for Israel to accept a Palestinian state and accept a “just solution” to the Palestinian refugee problem in line with a 1948 UN resolution that calls for them to be repatriated or compensated. “The Saudi initiative as it was presented by the summit of the Arab League represents a non-starter,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon after the Arab leaders embraced the proposal at a summit in Beirut. “We cannot accept on the one hand, to have negotiations for the creation of a Palestinian state — an independent one — and on the other have all the Palestinians come into Israel,” he told newsmen. “This means the destruction of the state of Israel and obviously we cannot agree.” Nachshon added that although Israel had not initially rejected the Saudi proposal, it could not discuss it along the lines adopted at the summit.
Reuters |
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Indians' hand in Oscar film Sydney, March 28 The Sydney-made film is a song-and-dance musical in the Bollywood genre, and much of the sets themselves came from India. The flashy nightclub of the late 1900s, “Moulin Rouge” was recreated in a studio with props made in India. The velvet-stage curtains, floral decorations, furnishings, cushions, hand-fans, umbrellas, sheer curtains, tie-backs, and fringes were all made in India. Sydney-based filmmaker of Indian-origin Anupam Sharma acted as Indian consultant on the project. He furnished details about Bollywood and its ways, its popular musicals and its particular brand of choreography. On one occasion, he was asked to bring in a female singer with training in the Indian classical tradition. Who else but Rachana Bhatnagar. Sydney’s most-talented Indian female singer was soon at Fox Studios, meeting director Baz Luhrmann. What the director and his musicians wanted from her was to sing a four-line verse in English, along the lines of “Chhamma chhamma.” Rachana innovated with many variations, and before she knew it, her singing had been recorded! Another Sydney-based Indian who has been associated with “Moulin Rouge” is fashion-designer Geeta Grover is well-known to members of the Indian community here for her exclusive creations of Indian outfits. Hardly surprising then, that it was her name that Anupam suggested to production-designer Catherine Martin — Baz Luhrmann’s wife — and set decorator Brigitte Broch when they sought help for embroidery. “My contribution was minor, really,” Anupam Sharma said after “Moulin Rouge” won the Oscar. “I only helped the film team meet the right people! India can also be seen, elsewhere, in the film, such as, the furnishings of the famed Blue-Room, where Satine (Nicole Kidman) seduces the poet Christain (Ewan McGregor), mistaking him to be a rich duke. Yet the masterpiece, Geeta believes, was the center-stage. “I had it designed like a shaadi ka mandap (Indian wedding marquee), with swags of silk-flowers going across the length of the top of the stage and draping down, on either side. This was created entirely in Delhi.”
IANS |
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3 more graft cases against Hasina Dhaka, March 28 The ministers charged with corruption are former Finance Minister Shah A.M.S. Kibria, former Industries Minister Tofail Ahmed, former Agriculture Minister Motia Chowdhury, former Education Minister A.H.S.K Sadique, former State Minister for Science and Technology Nooruddin Khan and former State Minister for Planning Dr Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir. In the latest corruption cases, Sheikh Hasina and the former ministers have been accused of embezzling Tk 21,57, 050 by appointing consultants for the Bangabandhu Novo Theatre, a planetarium, without inviting bids. They have also been accused of embezzling Tk 4,52,65,646 in the purchase of equipment for the theatre by giving the contract to the second lowest bidder, Goto Optical Manufacturer of Japan, ignoring the lowest bidder. The BAC filed the cases with the Tejgaon police station in Dhaka after getting approval from the Prime Minister’s Office. With these three cases, the number of graft cases filed against Sheikh Hasina stands at five.
UNI |
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Church attack: 30 suspects held Islamabad, March 28 The arrests came amid a series of overnight raids in Faisalabad, Punjab province, in which at least one person was killed and four injured in gunfighting. A police source said the detainees included four Afghan Taliban, militants, but this was not officially confirmed and the identities of the detainees were not released. “We faced strong resistance when we raided eight hideouts in different parts of the city. One person was killed and four others were injured during the exchange of fire,” Faisalabad police chief Tassadaq Hussain said. He said a suspect had been killed during a heavy gunfight at one undisclosed location in the city, 270 km south of Islamabad. A police constable sustained minor injuries.
AFP |
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USA backs POTO Washington, March 28 “I think what I would say about that (the new law) is we do think it is important for governments to take steps against terrorism, to do it in a constitutional way,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
PTI |
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