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Tuesday,
June 4, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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Taliban leaders meet near Peshawar:
report Prayers mark end of WTC clean-up
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Western missions in Pak on alert 4 Indian spies detained in Pak?
Israel, China renew defence
cooperation 3 shot in riots Fire in Buckingham Palace
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Taliban leaders meet near Peshawar: report New York, June 3 Top Taliban officials recently attended the funeral of a former anti-Soviet guerrilla fighter in Jalozai Afghan refugee camp, 20 km outside of Peshawar, Newsweek magazine said in its latest issue. Attending the funeral were some of Osama bin Laden’s chief protectors: Taliban’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Abdul Rahman Zaid and top Defence Ministry official, Jalil Yousafzai, among others. In a speech, a Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist, the magazine said, eulogised the departed and tartly noted the presence of a “personal envoy” of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, an intelligence official, who later let the Taliban officials leave unmolested. Asked about Bin Laden’s whereabouts, one of the attendees, an ex-Taliban intelligence official, said “Osama is a true patriot and despite their all-out efforts, the Americans are unable to catch him and never will be able to.” Other former Taliban, Newsweek reported, are living comfortably in the border cities of Peshawar and Quetta, while dozens of surviving Al-Qaida operatives have infiltrated into Pakistan. What’s frightening about the open-air dialogue that took place, is that it happened in a country that President George W. Bush has described as America’s most stalwart ally in the war on terror, the magazine said. In Pakistan, despite the open defiance of ex-Taliban, Musharraf is still hunting down hard-core Al-Qaida terrorists, US officials said. “The number of US personnel in Pakistan — CIA, FBI, and Special Forces — would astound you,” a senior Pakistani diplomat was quoted by Newsweek as saying. But an official of the Bush Administration also said that the US government’s ability to operate in the country remains constricted, especially as Pakistan prepares to shift 8,000 troops from the anti-Al-Qaida hunt. Qaida survivors and sympathetic terrorists, the magazine added, appear to be banding into smaller groups, acting largely on their own, animated only by a common hatred of the USA. The terrorists have intimate knowledge of US security methods, making overseas trips of US officials a growing concern. “Al-Qaida, as an organisation, has been crippled,” said a top Arab intelligence officer. “But there are still many mad operatives operating who will take matters in their own hands for revenge. When and where, I don’t know.” Francis Taylor, State Department’s counterterrorism chief, said some 1,600 suspects had been arrested in 95 nations worldwide (about half have been released). While terrorists cannot operate as freely in Pakistan as they once did in Afghanistan, many may never be caught either. “I’m worried that Al-Qaida makes Pakistan its new base,” said a senior US official. “And that has consequences for both Afghanistan and for terrorism globally.” The immediate danger is an assassination attempt against Musharraf and a destabilisation of his regime. The longer-term and even more dire threat is that terrorists could get their hands on Islamabad’s nukes, especially in a war-devastated Pakistan, the magazine added.
PTI |
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Prayers mark end of WTC clean-up New York, June 3 The ceremony included the lighting of four candles: one for peace and three to honour rescue workers, families and over 2,800 persons who died after the attacks of September 11. After the ceremony, some family members threw flowers over the fence into the seven-storey pit that is all that remains of the twin towers. Others attached bouquets to the fence. One woman clutched it and sobbed, screaming out a name as she looked at the site. About 1,100 victims had been identified and nearly 20,000 body parts were recovered during the excavation of the 16-acre site which ended after more than eight months. On Thursday, thousands of people attended a service organised by the city to mark the end of the clean-up at the site and to honour the rescue workers. An empty, flag-draped stretcher symbolising the victims, whose remains have not been recovered, was carried out of the pit, followed by the trade centre’s last steel beam, draped in black cloth and a flag. Among the dignitaries at the family memorial were former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Senator Charles Schumer. The search for human remains will continue at the Staten Island landfill, where 1.8 million tonnes of debris were taken by trucks and barges, city officials said. The clean-up finished more than three months earlier than expected and, at less than $ 750 million, at a fraction of the estimated cost.
AP |
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Western missions in Pak on alert WESTERN countries have issued detailed instructions to their missions in Pakistan for safety of their diplomats, staff and families in view of threats of fresh Karachi-type terrorist attacks. Westerners in Islamabad have been advised not to go to Kohsar market, a popular haunt of the foreigners, well placed sources said today quoting information received here through diplomatic channels. Several embassies have also issued extendable mirrors to their diplomats and staff which they use to look beneath their cars before getting into them to check for bombs and explosives. Wives of some diplomats based in Pakistan are understood to have revealed in conversations for the first time that in the past two months whenever they have gone for walks or to markets alone, the locals have spat at them and made lewd and violent gestures. A woman complained that she was followed by two persons in the market recently. They kept hooting, whistling, passing lewd remarks and looking at her through a Pepsi bottle. All shopkeepers laughed and no one came to her rescue, including shopkeepers who knew her. Such behaviour by local Pakistanis has unnerved the diplomat wives’ community in Pakistan and they have been instructed by their respective embassies not to go out alone. Most diplomats are emphatic that they are not leaving the subcontinent because of the situation on the Indo-Pak front but due to a severely deteriorated security environment where no expatriate feels safe. |
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4 Indian spies detained in Pak? Multan, June 3 Law enforcement officials today said they seized sensitive documents, maps, a radio set and a transmitter from the four who were posing as shepherds. “A message was detected... which was being transmitted to a neighbouring country in code-cords. Then two teams started their search for spies who were working in the desert in the guise of shepherds,” the officials said adding that they were taken to another location for interrogation. Military sources in Multan confirmed the arrests. Officials said the latest arrests raise to eight the number of alleged Indian spies nabbed since tensions over Kashmir escalated between the two countries last month. Two of them were women, they said.
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PAKISTAN BRIEFS
MUSHARRAF’S ENVOY IN ROME INDO-PAK CRISIS “CAN TRIGGER N-WAR”
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Israel, China renew defence cooperation Jerusalem, June 3 The Israeli military contingent, which included the Israeli Defence Forces Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientist for the Technology Planning Division, visited China and toured army bases in the country, English daily Haaretz reported here today quoting defence sources. The five-day visit by the Israeli army delegation came after a similar trip to Israel by a group of Chinese army personnel, the defence sources said. Defence cooperation between the two countries was ruptured and relations had come under strain after Israel cancelled a singed deal to sell Phalcon Airborne Early Warning System (AWAC) to China under tremendous US pressure.
PTI |
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3 shot in riots Belfast, June 3 The shootings followed clashes centred around the Short Strand district yesterday, a Catholic enclave in the predominantly Protestant east of the city, in which petrol bombs were thrown and several Protestant homes set on fire. “A 39-year-old man and two 15-year-old boys have been taken to hospital with gunshot wounds,’’ a police spokesman said. “None of the injuries are thought to be life threatening.” Police sources said the gunfire came from the Catholic zone. Riot police and troops later restored order.
Reuters |
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Fire in Buckingham Palace London, June 3 The blaze broke out in the loft of the West Terrace but was brought under control within an hour. No one was injured, a Scotland Yard spokesman said. Television channels showed smoke coming up from one area of the palace roof. There was no immediate word on the cause of the blaze.
PTI |
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