 |
Friday,
April 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India    |
Triumphant return of ex-king to Kabul
Israeli troops pull out of Jenin |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Together in anti-terror war 4 Canadian troops die in bombing
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maoists strike in Kathmandu: 6 hurt 14 Qaida-linked members
held
|
|
Triumphant return of ex-king to Kabul
Kabul, April 18 Zahir Shah (87), stepped off an Italian military plane followed by interim Cabinet Chairman Hamid Karzai and was greeted by senior tribal elders and ministers at Kabul’s bomb-scarred international airport. A military honour guard stood to attention as the former king walked across the tarmac over a red carpet, flanked by Karzai and Deputy Defence Minister Abdul Rashid Dostam. Many of the turbaned tribal chiefs rushed to kiss Zahir Shah’s hand in greeting, as security agents tried to keep them from swamping the aged former monarch. His return from Italy for the first time since he was ousted in a coup in 1973 is seen as highly symbolic of Afghanistan’s return to stability after more than two decades of war.
He has said he is not interested in resuming the throne, and has been called upon only to inaugurate a Loya Jirga, or grand assembly of tribal chiefs, in June to select a transitional government. Security was extremely tight at the airport after the discovery last month of an alleged plot to sabotage the interim government and assassinate leaders including Karzai and Zahir Shah. In a sign of the sensitivity of the king’s return, there was no announcement on radio or television. Only at the airport were there flags and banners of welcome. They, as well as crowds, were absent from Kabul streets. The Ex-king stepped onto home soil on a day of tragedy and violence for Afghans and internatioal troops pursuing Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda fighters and ousted Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who gave him sanctuary. Hours before he left Rome Zahir Shah told CNN in an interview that the last few years of his life, he would like to dedicate that to the people of Afghanistan and to his country. His return was put back from last month following security threats. About 50 Italian security guards were with the former king and will protect him for three months. Ironically Karzai, responsible for bringing the king home, now lives in his palace. The former king has said he will never leave Afghanistan once he returns. TEHRAN: Having sent its own US-backed royalty packing in the 1979 revolution, Iran gave a wary reception to the return of neighbouring Afghanistan’s ex-king Zahir Shah on Thursday. Iranian media have been told not to refer to the frail 87-year-old former monarch as Shah, but rather Zahir Khan, a title conferring noble but not royal status, political analysts say. Newspapers marked the ex-king’s arrival in Kabul by criticising him for his 23 years in exile. “He has the right to return to his country and the Bonn conference gave him the duty of inaugurating the Loya Jirga,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told Reuters. Zahir Shah’s only official duty now is to open a Loya Jirga, or grand council, in June to chart a new future for Afghanistan. US President George W. Bush has branded Iran part of an “axis of evil” and Washington has accused Tehran of helping fleeing Taliban and al-Qaida fighters and trying to upset the fragile Afghan interim administration, charges Iran vehemently denies. Iran has seen little reward from its investment in the anti- Taliban opposition with its influence in Kabul dwarfed by that of its arch-foe the United States. Now the return of the ex-king is especially galling, diplomats say. “People who were abroad and did not feel the Afghans’ pain of the past years should not take power while they are not familiar with the problems of the nation,” powerful “Supreme” leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last year. Conservative newspapers railed against the former monarch’s reappearance, labelling him a “relic” set up as a stooge for Western powers. “The majority of Afghans neither know him nor do they want a museum piece to revive the defunct monarchy of the Pashtun Durrani tribe,” the conservative Kayhan International English-language daily said in an editorial.
AFP, Reuters  |
|
Israeli troops pull out of Jenin Jenin, (West Bank) April 18 The pullout from Jenin’s inner-city refugee quarter, scene of the fiercest battles of Israel’s 21-day-old West Bank offensive, was a further sign Israel was starting to move its forces out of the West Bank city reoccupied two weeks ago. “I did not see any soldiers except for those around the camp,” said Ghassan Assadi, a municipality worker who had been driving through the camp to fix water supplies. Israel had said troops would leave the cities of Jenin and Nablus and most of Ramallah by the weekend after defying U.S. demands made two weeks ago for an “immediate withdrawal”. Israel says the offensive launched on March 29 is aimed at uprooting “terror networks” after scores of Israelis were killed in a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings. Palestinians suspect Israel’s underlying goal is to destroy the Palestinian Authority and the nascent institutions of a future independent state. Residents who walked through Jenin refugee camp this morning said they saw no Israeli armour or troops, but some said Israeli snipers were occupying Palestinian houses overlooking the camp. They reported occasional bursts of gunfire. Israeli troops were still surrounding the devastated refugee camp and were deployed in Jenin where they imposed a curfew, residents said. Hundreds of Palestinians began pouring back to the Jenin refugee camp on Wednesday, many of them residents who had fled fighting between the Israeli army and Palestinian militants that abated at the weekend. BRUSSELS: The European Commission on Thursday rebuffeda call by Syria and Lebanon to bar Israel from a meeting of Foreign Ministers from the European Union and Mediterranean states. Syria and Lebanon have pressed Spain, current EU President, to exclude Israel from the EuroMed meeting next week in the Spanish city of Valencia because of the Jewish state's military offensive in the West Bank. "The whole purpose (of the meeting) is to bring together all countries around the Mediterranean and Israel is a constituent part (of EuroMed)," said commission spokesman Gunnar Wiegand.
Reuters |
|
Together in anti-terror war To mark Israel’s independence day and a decade of its friendship with India His Excellency Mr David Aphek, the Ambassador of Israel, spoke to Anil Bhat of Asia Defence News International (ADNI). Following are the excerpts: AB- What are the reasons for the derailment and subsequent impasse of your country’s relations with Palestine? DA- The current situation is a test of peace in the Middle- East, maybe unprecedented in the past 10 years, and we hope we emerge from this test with one outcome – that is ceasefire and both the parties go back to the negotiating table. We only want to annihilate his (Arafat’s) terrorist infrastructure once and for all. He will remain safe. We will not touch him. We do not want to reoccupy the territories which we left years ago. We only want to live in peace. In accordance with International law, if a neighbour allows his territory to be a base of guerillas, of terrorist squads which hit us and go back, this is intolerable. AB- Is there any role for India in this process? DA- We have always been asking India to be on the side of peace which means to convince them (Palestine) not to leave the negotiating table, not to resort to violence and terrorist activities, so that we can reach our agreement for peace with the encouragement and support of friends like India. AB- How do you see the two countries cooperating in combating this cancer? DA- Yes, both the countries can combat terrorism, if possible, by having dialogue on how to do so. Since Mr Advani’s visit to Israel, two years ago, we have exchanged technologies. I want to emphasise one thing- – we do not ask you to come and fight our wars and you do not ask us to fight yours. Yet, from time to time, I hear from the media of our neighbouring countries that Israelis are here to fight. We confine ourselves to exchanging views, methods and know- how. And I think this is enough. AB- How do you view the growth of the Indo-Israeli relation. DA- We see prospects of more activity, more development in the second decade. Already, we have achieved a trade balance of $ 1 billion. In the next decade we hope to touch of $ 2 billion or even $ 3 billion. |
|
4 Canadian troops die in bombing
Montreal, April 18 Besides the soldiers with life-threatening injuries, six others were wounded, “one with very serious injuries, and five with serious injuries,” the ministry said in a statement. “At approximately 5:25 pm (3:55 pm IST today), a US Air National Guard F-16 dropped one or two 500-pound bombs on 3 PPCLI Battle Group troops who were conducting a live-fire training exercise in an area about 14 kilometres South of the Kandahar airfield,” the statement said. The soldiers belonged to the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Battle Group (3 PPCLI). “Planning for the evacuation of the killed and wounded is now underway,” the ministry said. The ministry said it would launch an investigation into the friendly fire incident and that it was assured the USA would cooperate. Canada sent troops to Afghanistan in January to help in the US-led war against terrorism. At least three persons were killed in a bomb explosion in a busy market in the eastern Afghan city of Khost today, the Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported. It quoted witnesses as saying the blast, the third in the city since the establishment of the interim Afghan government in December, took place only 300 metres from the Khost military hospital. The agency did not say how many people were wounded and there was no immediate word on whether the blast was politically motivated or a result of personal enmity. Heavy arms are often used by Afghans to settle the personal scores.
AFP |
|
Maoists strike in Kathmandu: 6 hurt Kathmandu, April 18 The rebels, seeking to topple the constitutional monarchy in the landlocked Himalayan nation, detonated a bomb late on Wednesday killing two people, including a policeman. Six people, two of them policemen, were wounded in another blast at around dawn on Thursday in the Maitidevi residential area of central Kathmandu, a police official said. Earlier Maoist rebels intensified their violent activities hurling bombs at the residence of the Political Adviser to Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and a few police posts in the capital in which four persons were injured. The rebels hurled 10 crude bombs at the residence of Mr Prakash Sharan Mahat, Deuba’s Political Adviser this morning, damaging a part of the building. Mr Mahat was not at home at the time of the attack.
PTI |
|
14 Qaida-linked members held Kuala Lumpur, April 18 The suspects, who included two Indonesians, were detained under a strict security law in separate raids yesterday and early today, said Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai. Two men were arrested in Kuala Lumpur, while another two were detained in southern Johor state, which bordered Singapore. The rest were held in several districts across western Selangor state, near Kuala Lumpur, Mr Norian Mai told a press conference. The arrests take to 38 the number of persons detained in Malaysia since the authorities began a crackdown on alleged Muslim militants last December using the Internal Security Act, which allows the government to detain without trial people it accuses of threatening national security.
AP |
|
Indian girls ‘being sold’ in Pak London, April 18 Pakistan is also becoming a destination for women being trafficked from Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, Amnesty says in its report “Pakistan: Insufficient Protection of Women.” The report says Pakistan is “a transit and target country for vulnerable women from Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Afghanistan. The open sale of girls and women in markets is reported from several parts of the country.”
IANS |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
