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Monday,
April 1, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Loya Jirga to meet on June 10 Israeli troops break into Ramallah
Governor’s office She kept the flag of Windsor House flying
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LTTE ‘breaks’ truce Colombo, March 31 A large group of teenaged Tamil Tiger guerrillas has crossed security force lines in eastern Sri Lanka, breaking the terms of a ceasefire brokered by Norway, the Defence Ministry said today.
17 Maoists gunned down Husband can beat wife: court
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Loya
Jirga to meet on June 10 Kabul, March 31 This was stated by Commission Chairman Ismail Qasimy told a news conference. The 21-member commission has been touring Afghanistan for weeks to publicise its work and consider possible participants in a gathering to endorse either the present administration of interim leader Hamid Karzai, in power since mid-December, or elect a new leader and government. The
commission said there would be 1,450 delegates — 1,051 of them
elected — including 160 women. The current interim authority of Hamid Karzai is dominated by Tajiks from the Panjsher valley. They formed the backbone of the Northern Alliance forces. The members of the Loya Jirga, which is expected to number more than 500 persons, will be chosen by a mixture of indirect elections and selection by the commission. To qualify for the Loya Jirga, potential candidates have to be meet an exhaustive list of requirements. They include: —
be at least 22 years old — have no link with terror organisations —
not have been involved in spreading or smuggling narcotics, abuse of
human rights, war crimes, looting of public property and smuggling of
cultural and archeological heritage. — in the eyes of the people,
not to have been involved indirectly or directly in the killing of
innocent people, among other requirements. Those candidates will
then be submitted for approval at a public meeting, when people can
either accept or reject their elders’ choices. Qasimy said there
would be no blanket ban on participation by former members of the
Taliban. “If they fulfil the requirements, they can come,” he
said. Qasimy confirmed former King Zahir Shah would open the inaugural session of the Loya Jirga in Kabul before retiring once a chairman was elected. The election of delegates will be monitored by the United Nations and would include international monitors.
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Israeli troops break into Ramallah Governor’s office
Ramallah (West Bank), March 31 Two explosions were heard in the compound outside the building in the morning, apparently grenades. No further details were available. Palestinian officials said the Israeli troops punched their way into the offices of the Governor of Ramallah, who shared half of the three-storeyed building with Mr Arafat and was separated by a wall running down the structure and doors. The Israeli army denied it had entered the offices. US President George W. Bush, spending the Easter weekend at his Texas ranch, called on both sides to find a way to peace. But he placed the onus for the latest violence on the Palestinians, saying he understood Israel’s need to defend itself: “All of the leaders in the world must stand up against terror...and that especially applies to Chairman Arafat.” He made no call for Israeli forces to withdraw from Arafat’s compound but urged the Israel Government to consider the consequences of its actions and make sure “that there is a path to peace as she secures her homeland”. NEW YORK AND RAMALLAH: In words and deeds Israel on Saturday defied a United Nations resolution calling on it to pull out of Ramallah and other Palestinian cities even though the motion was endorsed by its usually staunch ally, the USA. An Israeli spokesman said their forces would not withdraw as they continued what they say will be a sustained campaign against Palestinian militants. The rare US stand against Israel took place at the end of a marathon emergency session of UN Security Council in New York on Saturday. The USA backed a
resolution calling for the Jewish state to withdraw its forces from Ramallah and other cities.
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She kept the flag of Windsor House flying London, March 31 Along with wartime leader Winston Churchill, she symbolised the “best of British”, yet was also a woman of wit and fun, who joked at her own expense, cheered on her horses at the race track and grew haughty at any delay in her lunchtime gin. Her death, so soon after that of her younger daughter, will overshadow the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations planned to begin in May. The Queen mother’s last significant public appearance was on her birthday last August, when she appeared outside her London home Clearance House. Her relatively healthy demeanour alongside that of the ailing Princess Margaret, who appeared in a wheelchair, attracted acclaim from the legions of fans who traditionally marked her birthday by presenting her with flowers and small gifts. She was always regarded as one of the architects of the modern House of Windsor, and was close not only to the Queen but also to Prince Charles, who regarded her as a mentor during much of his traumatic married life. On a visit to New Zealand in 1994, Prince Charles described his grandmother as one of the most remarkable and wonderful people in the world. She is completely indefatigable and unstoppable. She is a great example of that remarkable generation that grew up at the turn of the century. The Queen Mother’s last outing to see her beloved racing was to Newbury last December. After spending Christmas at Sandringham, doctors advised that she should not return to London until she had recovered from a heavy chill. The daughter of the Earl of Strathmore, the Queen Mother spent most of her childhood at the family’s ancestral home, Glamis Castle, in Scotland. She married the young Duke of York, later George VI, before in 1923. At the time of the wedding, it was George’s older brother who was heir to the throne and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon became the Duchess of York. It was only when Edward abdicated in 1937 that the couple became King and Queen. After his death in 1952, and the accession of the current Queen, the title Queen Mother was created for her as a recognition of her devoted service to Britain and the Empire’ during the World War II. Meanwhile, tributes poured in after the death of the Queen Mother as world leaders paid homage to a woman who embodied the “best of British’’. US President George W. Bush was “deeply saddened’’ by her death. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has expressed condolences over the death of Britain’s Queen Mother and shared the sadness of the British people at the news of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
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LTTE ‘breaks’ truce Colombo, March 31 A group of 200 to 300 members of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam yesterday defied army orders not to cross a key highway patrolled by security forces in the district of Batticaloa, the ministry said. “A majority of these LTTE members appear to be newly-trained cadres in the age of group of 12 to 16 years and some of them have been carrying light machine-guns, rocket-propelled grenades and multi-purpose machine guns,” the ministry said. Under the truce that went into effect on February 23, combatants on both sides can enter each others’ territory provided they are unarmed and out of uniform. They should also follow a registration process. The Defence Ministry said the teenaged rebels, in camouflaged uniforms, were led by self-styled Lieut Col Weerasingham and defied the orders of government troops. “This matter was brought to the notice of the ceasefire monitoring committee,” the ministry said. There was no immediate reaction from the LTTE to the ministry statement. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan police have sought legal advice on how to deal with Tamil Tiger rebels threatening to commit suicide by taking cyanide if they face questioning or arrest by troops.
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17 Maoists gunned down Kathmandu, March 31 A Defence Ministry official said today that at least nine Maoists were gunned down in various parts of Rolpa, while three were killed in Kanchanpur, two in Mugu, one in Baglung in western Nepal on Friday. One insurgent was killed in Morang district of eastern Nepal. The security forces also hauled in some weapons, ammunitions and explosives from them, he added.
UNI |
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Husband can beat wife: court Dubai, March 31 The court also held that a woman may ask her husband for a divorce if he injures her, either by words or actions and granted a woman divorce and maintenance, the Gulf News Daily said. The ruling came on a divorce petition filed by a woman, in which she asked that she be permitted to divorce her husband because he often beat her in front of her children and the maid. It ordered the husband to pay a monthly maintenance of Dh 2,000 (Rs 26,000) besides the remaining amount of her dowry - Dh 5,000. She was also granted custody of their two sons.
PTI |
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