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Thursday,
May 30, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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ISI admits
aiding ultras in Kashmir
Lockerbie:
Libya offers $ 2.7b relief
100m
‘would’ die in N-war USA to
allow sale of defence spares to Pak |
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New India,
Pak envoys for UN Palestinian
gunman kills 3 Israeli boys 16
killed in China UK comes
to Nepal’s aid
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ISI admits aiding ultras in Kashmir
New York, May 29 The officials, while implicitly admitting that Pakistan had supported Muslim separatist insurgents in India during the past, insisted that the infiltration was halted months ago, in an interview published today in The New York Times. “Ask me about the present, not about the past,” said a senior officer, who was appointed by President Pervez Musharraf in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) shake-up after the September 11 attacks. “I am certainly not allowing this to happen. On this the world may rest assured.” The interview with a Western journalist was given at ISI headquarters after President Musharraf brought about changes in the agency’s leadership after the September 11 attacks. President Musharraf had been under intense pressure to reform the ISI which had once provided vital support for the Taliban, and reportedly frustrated past American efforts to capture members of Al-Qaida. The ISI was also suspected of being involved in terrorist activities ranging from Kashmir to the murder of Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl, the church bombing in Islamabad in which 5 persons died and the suicide strike in Karachi which claimed 14 lives. However, the official said the idea of “rogue elements” within the agency ignoring orders from the top was ‘’nonsense’’ adding that the ISI was “restructuring itself in all areas that any modern intelligence service should be good at.” He also said recent terror attacks in Pakistan pointed to worrisome links between local extremists and fugitive Al-Qaida leaders who ‘’far from being concentrated along the Afghan border as American officials contend’’ have filtered across the country into major cities. The official said that important advances made in investigations into all three cases, pointed to Al-Qaida’s involvement and signs of intensified collaboration between the ISI and indigenous terrorist groups like the Sunni Muslim extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. The threat from this partnership, according to ISI officials, is concentrated in Pakistan’s cities, and not on the border with Afghanistan, as the USA insists.
UNI |
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Lockerbie: Libya offers $ 2.7b relief
New York, May 29 But Libya has imposed a number of conditions that have to be met before it will automatically release the money from an escrow account to a plaintiff’s committee account in New York, according to a statement e-mailed yesterday to the media by the law firm for 118 of the families. It said 40 per cent of the money would be released when the now suspended UN sanctions against Libya were lifted, another 40 per cent would be released after US commercial sanctions were removed and the remaining 20 per cent would be handed over when Libya was taken off the US list of states sponsoring terrorism. The explosion killed 259 mostly American passengers and crew, and 11 residents of Lockerbie. In 2001, a Libyan defendant was convicted and another was acquitted of the mid-air bombing. The victims’ families filed a lawsuit against the Libyan Government in 1996. If Libya’s offer is accepted by the families, each of the them would receive $ 10 million. “We are pleased to inform you that after 10 months of difficult and intricate negotiations in New York, London and Paris, we have finally obtained a settlement offer from Libya that we recommend to you,” said a letter from the law firm of Kreindler and Kreindler, sent to victims’ families. Susan Cohen of Cape May Court House, New Jersey who lost her 20-year-old daughter, Theodora, in the bombing, said she was outraged by the offer. “I feel this is a sickening business deal which has nothing to do with any real change on the part of Libya,’’ she told Reuters by telephone. “It’s a buy-off of the families that serves only the purpose of the Libyans to get out of sanctions.” Bert Ammerman of River Vale, New Jersey, whose brother, Tom Ammerman, 36, was killed in the bombing, called it a “substantial settlement.” “It means that if your fingerprints are on acts of terrorism you will be held accountable legally, financially and politically,” said Ammerman, who will not directly benefit from any settlement, though his sister-in-law will. “I am pragmatic, but some families will never be able to accept any agreement,’’ said Ammerman.
Reuters |
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100m ‘would’ die in N-war
Washington, May 29 A Pentagon report had earlier said that nine to 12 million persons in the subcontinent would die and two to seven million suffer injuries, if a nuclear war broke out between the two south Asian countries. The study, reported by NBC-TV, also said that around 1,000 Al-Qaida combatants were believed to be in the tribal areas of Pakistan, including probably Osama bin Laden himself, but Pakistani troops, distracted by the confrontation with India, have practically stopped helping the Americans, who are on a look-out for the Taliban and Al-Qaida men. Meanwhile, Pentagon spokeswoman and Assistant Secretary of Defence Victoria Clarke said the USA was working hard with both countries, to try to ease and de-escalate the conflict. “Any time you have two nations who continue to have the problems they are having, two nuclear-armed nations, we of course, have great concern”, she said. She said Defence Secretary Rumsfeld and India’s Defence Minister George Fernandes were “trading phone calls late last week.” The United States Government is working at all levels —from the President down, including the talks that Undersecretary for Policy Doug Feith had last week (with the Indian Defence delegation) “to do what we can to help de-escalate the conflict.” When asked that a recent report in the Washington Post stated that President Musharraf was still harbouring terrorism and he had not lived up to his January 12 statement, Mr Clarke said “We are encouraging Pakistan to get involved (in the war against terrorism)”. “The war on terrorism is obviously a priority for us, a priority for the world. We understand what is going on there. We are doing our best with both countries to try to bring the level of tensions down”, she said. Regarding Pakistan’s help against the Al-Qaida and Taliban in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas, she said, “it has been enormous.”
PTI |
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USA to allow sale of defence spares to Pak
Islamabad, May 29 “The Foreign Military Financing (FMF) will facilitate continued military support for Operation Enduring Freedom by allowing the supply of spare parts for Pakistan’s existing US-origin equipment as well as by providing C-130 support and helicopters to improve transport and access to border areas,” an official US Government report said. The US document said Pakistan’s continued support for Operation Enduring Freedom had helped in detaining and handing over fleeing Al-Qaida and Taliban and in cracking down on extremism which has in turn proved critical to US success in the international war on terrorism. The report detailed US support for Pakistan during the fiscal year 2003 and projected an overall $ 305 million assistance in addition to the $ 921 million provided during 2002 to fight terrorism in Afghanistan, ‘The News’ said today. The US monetary assistance included $ 600 million economic and budgetary support apart from $ 220 million payments under the logistical support agreement, it said. The fiscal year 2003 security assistance request for Pakistan included International Military and Education Training (IMET) to increase professionalism and to promote respect for human rights, it said. According to the report, US support for Pakistan was key to meeting American regional goals of achieving the success of Operation Enduring Freedom.
PTI |
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New India, Pak envoys for UN By a coincidence, both India and Pakistan now have new ambassadors at the United Nations. They presented their credentials yesterday to the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan. Mr Vijay
Nambiar, until recently India’s High Commissioner in Islamabad, has succeeded Mr Kamalesh Sharma, who has retired from the IFS. Mr Sharma is now the head of the UN Mission of Support in East Timor. The new Pakistan Ambassador, Mr Munir Akram, like Mr Nambiar, belongs to his country’s foreign services. Prior to his appointment in New York, he was Pakistan’s
permanent representative at the UN mission in Geneva. Mr Skram has lost no time in interacting with the world media at the United Nations. He was scheduled to address a press conference on Wednesday afternoon and discuss the current situation in his country in the context of rising tensions in the region. |
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Palestinian gunman kills 3 Israeli boys
Jerusalem, May 29 With the upsurge of bombings and shootings, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was under growing pressure from his public to take decisive action against Palestinian militants. However, the Cabinet’s options appeared limited. A six-week military offensive that wound down earlier this month weakened but did not crush Palestinian militias, and the military’s follow-up actions — almost daily, intelligence-driven arrest raids — have failed to prevent terror attacks. In Washington, meanwhile, US President George W. Bush will meet with CIA chief George Tenet and other senior advisers to chart Mid-east policy. Also, a top envoy, Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, embarked on a six-nation swing through the Arab world to drum up support for reshaping the Palestinian Authority. Mr Tenet was expected to go to the region this weekend to work with Israelis and Palestinians on streamlining the Palestinian security services. In last night’s attack, a Palestinian gunman shot and killed three teen-agers — two 17-year-olds and a 14-year-old - at an Orthodox Jewish boarding school in the West Bank settlement of Itamar, near the Palestinian city of Nablus.
AP |
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16 killed in China Beijing, May 29 The accident took place yesterday when the bus was on its way from Pingchang county to Wanyuan city.
PTI |
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UK comes to Nepal’s aid Kathmandu, May 29 Admiral Boyce said his visit which ended yesterday had been very fruitful and enjoyable. ‘’My visit to Nepal has been very delightful, stimulating and fascinating,’’ a press note issued by the British Embassy said here today. Admiral Boyce met both King Gyanendra and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and expressed firm support to the Nepalese army in its efforts to crush the Maoist violence. Admiral Boyce commended the service provided by the Nepalese Gurkha soldiers. ‘’The brigade of Gurkhas remains a cornerstone of ties and helps to focus continued British interest in Nepal, its people and its development,’’ he said.
UNI |
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