 |
Sunday,
June 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
No
solution to standoff with Pak: Fernandes
Indonesia
not to allow US troops Musharraf’s strategy to curb terrorism Dismisses possibility
of nuclear conflict Pak
denies Benazir’s allegations |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indian
Under-Secy-General at United Nations FBI undermined warning NEWS ANALYSIS Brain
protein factor for Parkinson’s
|
|
No solution to standoff with Pak: Fernandes
Singapore, June 1 “There is still no coming closer in sight,” Mr Fernandes said on the sidelines of a regional security conference in Singapore. US officials attending the Singapore conference have urged India to show restraint in the standoff. “It is not for us to comment on what others have done,” Mr Fernandes said of a US State Department message urging the 60,000 US citizens in India to leave. Mr Fernandes had said yesterday that the situation between India and Pakistan was “stable”. However, today he appeared to back away from that position, saying that the situation was still tense. US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, attending the defence conference, said US efforts to prevent war include both promises of incentives and warnings of punishments. “I don’t think we believe in exhortation alone,” Mr Wolfowitz said. He said a war between India and Pakistan would be “somewhere between terrible and catastrophic” and would destroy hard-earned improvements in US relations with both nations. Singapore Defence Minister Tony Tan said Mr Fernandes had been given a “clear message that there is a general concern in the international community about the horrific consequences” of a full-scale war between India and Pakistan. “I’m sure the Indian minister will have carried away his impressions of the views of the ministers represented at this conference,” he said.
AFP |
|
Indonesia
not to allow US troops Singapore, June 1 The world’s most populous Muslim nation has been criticised by neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore for not following their lead in arresting dozens of suspects accused of plotting attacks, some thought to have links to Islamic militants in Indonesia. Matori said Jakarta was intent on stamping out militancy, but would not go the way of the Philippines by allowing in US soldiers to train troops and assist in anti-terror efforts.
Reuters |
|
Musharraf’s strategy to curb terrorism
Islamabad, June 1 General Musharraf has directed the Ministries of Law and Interior to immediately incorporate amendments in various ordinances and laws, dealing with extremists and terrorists, to make them more effective, Pakistan daily ‘The News’ said today. The four phases of the “grand strategy” cleared by General Musharraf were “pre-emptive, preventive, investigation and prosecution”, it said. According to the report, the first phase of the strategy to contain militants details pre-emptive measures to be executed by all intelligence agencies. In the second phase, that is preventive, provincial governments, the Interior Ministry, and the ICT have been directed to come up with a crash programme to improve the training of personnel, investigation and crime coverage, the daily said. The agencies and ministries that have been given tasks to execute this strategy included ISI, IB, Military Intelligence, Interior Ministry, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Federal Investigation Agency, Ministry of Law and Justice, and four provincial home departments.
PTI |
|
Dismisses possibility
of nuclear conflict
Islamabad, June 1 “I don’t think either side is that irresponsible to go to that limit,” Musharraf told CNN in an interview. “I would even go to the extent of saying one shouldn’t even be discussing these things, because any sane individual cannot even think of going into this unconventional war, whatever the pressures,” he said. Musharraf said he was willing to meet Vajpayee in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where both leaders will attend an Asian Summit from June 4. “It depends more on Prime Minister Vajpayee,” he said. “I have no problem in meeting. I have been saying that all along. This question needs to be put to him”. Reacting to the charges that Islamabad had moved its nuclear missiles near the border, Musharraf said “That Pakistan ever moved any nuclear asset or deployed its missiles is baseless, absolutely baseless.” “If India has moved their missiles this is extremely dangerous and a very serious escalation, an extremely serious escalation. The international community must take note of this because you can’t distinguish what is conventional and what is unconventional,” Musharraf told the network. “Let us hope good sense prevails (and) this does not lead to escalation. It has not because we are restraining ourselves, and let Indians not test our patience and restraint because it will be very dangerous.”
PTI |
|
Pak denies Benazir’s allegations
Islamabad, June 1 “It is regrettable that Ms Benazir Bhutto is labelling the freedom struggle in Kashmir an act of Islamic militancy and alluding that they may have been supported by the Pakistan Government. I totally deny it,” Information Minister Nisar Memon said. Reacting to Ms Bhutto’s statement which blamed hardline elements in the army of backing militants as the “first line of defence in Kashmir”, he said such “accusation for political purpose would only help India and certainly not the people of Pakistan.” He said Ms Bhutto’s allegations were “devoid of any fact and can be extremely harmful when President Pervez Musharraf’s government has denounced militancy and condemned all sort of terrorism which we have been accused of by India”. However, in an apparent softening of stand, Mr Memon whose government in the recent past strongly denounced Ms Bhutto as a corrupt leader, said “political leadership of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan recognised and acknowledged her as a leader”. Ms Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party recently declined to attend an all-party meeting convened by General Musharraf stating that the invitation had not been addressed to her. “Now, when the country is facing the most challenging times in its history, it is expected from all political leadership to unite and combat the aggression of the enemy across the borders,” Mr Memon said. He said Ms Bhutto should “clarify her position and support efforts of President Musharraf for a dialogue with India for the resolution of all outstanding issues, including Kashmir.” Mr Memon said the former Prime Minister’s allegations that hardline military officials supported militants who carried out terrorist attacks in Pakistan like the recent suicide attack on French nationals in Karachi went against the people who laid their lives in country’s defence. He said the government remained committed to holding general elections from October 7 to 11 as announced by General Musharraf.
PTI |
|
Indian Under-Secy-General at United Nations
United Nations, June 1 The department has, in recent years, been criticised for lack of performance and Tharoor’s prime task will be to overhaul its image and provide it a new direction. Fortysix-year-old Tharoor, who has spent all his working life at the world body, is among the youngest to be promoted to the level of Under-Secretary-General. He had been the interim head of the department for the past 16 months and chief United Nations spokesman Fred Eckhard said his confirmation had been delayed because he was “unusually young.” “He is unusually young to achieve this level. I think probably the Secretary-General wanted to give him a chance to see what he could do,” Eckhard said. Born in London and educated mostly in India, Tharoor earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate from Tuft’s University’s Fletcer School and Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts by the time he was 22. Tharoor joined the United Nations in 1978, holding several major positions since.
PTI |
|
FBI undermined warning New York, June 1 The “Director’s report on Terrorism”, one of the FBI’s most closely-held documents, found that virtually every major field office of the bureau had undermined in evaluating and dealing with the threats posed by groups like
Al-Qaida, a news report quoted officials as saying. The New York Times report comes at a time when the FBI is facing questions whether it did all it could to thwart the terrorist attacks. The document, an internal assessment of the bureau, provided detailed recommendations and the likely increase in expenditure to address the problem, the officials said, adding that despite this, the agency failed to clinch an increase in the Justice Department budgetary allocation.
PTI |
|
NEWS ANALYSIS The Gulf without oil would have spared mankind of most of its miseries. That was not to be. Oil brought assertion by the technically advanced nations and unwanted sucking in of the regional states into international political squabbling. Is Central Asia to replace the Gulf region? Are peace and tranquility of Central Asia to become a hostage to its hydrocarbon treasures? Will it lead to launching of new security perceptions and readjustment of forces and interests? A host of questions can be raised on the signing of a MoU among three Asiatic states, namely Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. An important event in the history of Asia has taken place. The three countries mentioned above have recently signed a MoU for laying a gas pipeline to carry Turkmen gas all the way to the Persian Gulf across Afghanistan and Pakistan. In this way, for the first time in history, Central Asia finds access to the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. Daulatabad in Turkmenistan and Tengiz in Kazakhstan are reportedly to be having the world’s largest gas and oil reserves, respectively. During the Soviet regime, the Russians knew these enormous hydrocarbon deposits. But owing to lack of adequate resources to undertake commercial level exploration, exploitation and marketing of the mineral wealth and also the non-availability of sophisticated technology, the deposits remained untouched. With the implosion of the Soviet Union and the declaration of their independence by its federating units, including the Central Asian states, the local governments were under pressure to address their sagging economies in free market dispensation. Among other measures, there showed up a prospect of strengthening the economies by making proper use of their natural resources and mineral wealth. Turkmenistan was the first to think of taking positive steps in the direction. It has a five-hundred-mile common border with Iran, an oil rich country with expertise in exploration, exploitation, production and marketing of oil and gas. Iran had taken a strong anti-American stance under the Khumeini revolution. It was its policy to obstruct the Anglo-American bloc from making deep inroads into Central Asia in a scenario of vacuum that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Turkmenistan being her immediate neighbour and a sizeable ethnic Turkmen population concentration in northern province touching on the Turkmen border, Iran made several favourable offers to Ashkabad that would boost its oil and gas industry. Iran provided the Turkmen gas an exit route to the Persian Gulf, besides opening its own market for the commodity. Iran also built the rail link between its eastern terminus of Meshad and the Turkmen border town of Sarakhs, establishing a rail link between Bandar Abbas in the Straits of Hormoz and Central Asia. Today, India for example, is using the same route to transport its merchandise to various parts of Central Asia. These interests and strategic perceptions were the compulsions for the Turkmenistan President, Safarmurad Niyazov not to align his country with the CIS security system. He aspired that Turkmenistan be recognised as a neutral country. The Daulatabad gas had attracted the attention of international oil cartels immediately after the collapse of the Soviet state, Bridas of Argentina had taken the lead in making a survey of the Daulatabad, Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul, Jalalabad, Peshawar and Karachi route, the shortest to the Indian Ocean, its length being 2200 miles. Bridas had invested a good amount in the survey work when the American cartel Unocal jumped into the fray. Supported by a strong commercial lobby in the American Congress, Unocal was able to rope in the US Administration in the venture, emphasising its political implications. This was one of the important reasons for the US Administration to gloss over the oppressive and fanatical regime of the Taliban in Kabul. Pakistan had tried to convince them that since Taliban alone would guarantee lasting order in Afghanistan, which was essential to the security of the pipeline, they (the Americans) should reconcile to Taliban governance. And they did reconcile to it for some time. During the Taliban regime, especially after the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif, the Unocal entered into serious negotiations with the Taliban to settle terms with them regarding the scale of duty money and security expenditures of the gas pipeline. President Safarmurad Niyazov was eager to push the deal through. Pakistan, which had already made strategic space for itself in Afghanistan, warmed up to Turkmenistan and Benazir Bhutto paid a couple of visits to Ashkabad. However, negotiations between the Taliban and the representatives of Unocal, held both in Kabul and in Texas, remained inconclusive because each time they began to deliberate on the issue, the Taliban asked for higher and higher rate of taxes. The talks ultimately failed. With the ouster of the Taliban and induction of a friendly interim government, the matter was re-kindled and silent negotiations were held. The USA hastened to see that the MoU was signed before the Loy Jirga met and decided about the future government in Kabul. It appears that the Indian foreign office has failed to shed its traditional indifference to these vital issues till it wakes up when damage is already done. It should have foreseen the security concerns that are likely to surface with this important gas pipeline disgorging itself at the Gawadar port along the Makran coast. China has already invested three billion dollars for the development of this port. When huge oil and gas tankers from the east and the west make a beeline to the Gawadar port, big powers will make security of the commercial route a pretext to put up their strong naval presence in the region. China will be ahead of others. This will pose serious challenge to India’s naval supremacy in this part of the Indian Ocean. The Indian foreign office should have sounded Karzai government in good time that India will not consider it a friendly act if the Turkmen gas pipeline terminates in Pakistan. It should have insisted upon the Kabul regime to take a balanced decision even if there is American pressure on it which, obviously, is there. |
|
Brain protein
factor for Parkinson’s Washington, June 1 In lab experiments, when the brain protein alpha-synuclein combines with dopamine in nerve cells, it can trigger the production of toxic reactive oxygen molecules that kill the nerves, according to a research team led by Dr Bruce A. Yankner of the Harvard Medical School. If this process operates in patients the same way it does in the laboratory, it may set scientists on the path to potential treatments, Yankner said. But it also added to the debate over whether the current use of dopamine in the treatment of Parkinson’s could make things worse in the long run, he added.
AP |
 |
| 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 | |
