W O R L D

Suicide bomber kills 19 in Jerusalem
Jerusalem, June 18
A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded bus during the morning rush hour today, killing at least 19 persons, mostly schoolchildren, and injuring nearly 50 others in the deadliest attack in the Israeli city since the current Palestinian uprising began.

A few minutes after the explosion, Israeli medics enter the bus next to the body of the bus driver in Jerusalem’s Pat junction near Gilo on Tuesday.— Reuters photo

Bugti tribals besieged
Islamabad, June 18
Security forces have besieged heavily armed Bugti tribals in Baluchistan who have repeatedly attacked gas pipelines. Three days ago, the Pakistan Government rushed paramilitary forces to Dera Bugti where, it said, the attackers had taken shelter.

Bangladesh detectives get life term
Dhaka, June 18
In an unprecedented judgement, the Dhaka District and Sessions Judge convicted 13 detectives of the detective branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on charges of torture resulting in death of a university student in July 1998. 

Indian Army to train Nepalese troops
Kathmandu, June 18
A four-member team of the Indian Army is here to impart training to Nepalese army to help them tackle the Maoist insurgents. The training assistance team, which arrived here on Sunday, would provide training to the Nepalese army as per the Indian Government’s offer to do so.

• Oxford honour for Romila Thapar

In USA, a VIP can get ordinary treatment It is common knowledge that in India self-importance of even former VIPs outweighs security considerations. At airports, they and their aides and hangers-on are known to insist on the special privilege of going right up to the tarmac without undergoing security checks. Not so in the USA, where a VIP can find himself to be just a VOP (very ordinary person) on occasions.

Video

German artists help artists in Afghanistan retrace their creative skills, muzzled under the Taliban regime. In video(28k, 56k)

Suicide bomber kills 19 in Jerusalem

Jerusalem, June 18
A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded bus during the morning rush hour today, killing at least 19 persons, mostly schoolchildren, and injuring nearly 50 others in the deadliest attack in the Israeli city since the current Palestinian uprising began.

Bugti tribals besieged

Islamabad, June 18
Security forces have besieged heavily armed Bugti tribals in Baluchistan who have repeatedly attacked gas pipelines.

Three days ago, the Pakistan Government rushed paramilitary forces to Dera Bugti where, it said, the attackers had taken shelter. Tribal chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was the provincial chief minister and governor in the 1970s, had been accused of sheltering “proclaimed offenders”.

But Akbar Bugti denied there were any proclaimed offenders. “Which court has declared them so? It is only a strategy to make us bow before the Pakistani establishment. We were told to go and salaam the General (Pervez Musharraf) in Islamabad and discuss with him the situation on borders with India. But we did not go because there was no point in talking to him. He first takes decisions and then invites us for consultations,’’ he told BBC last night.

Attacks on the gas pipelines had been going on for the past four months. Akbar Bugti said although this wealth of gas belonged to the people of Baluchistan, no Baluch was employed there even as peon.

The paramilitary forces had allegedly cut power and telephone lines to Dera Bugti besides supply of medicines. UNI

Bangladesh detectives get life term
Atiqur Rahman
Tribune News Service

Dhaka, June 18
In an unprecedented judgement, the Dhaka District and Sessions Judge convicted 13 detectives of the detective branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on charges of torture resulting in death of a university student in July 1998.

The main accused Sub-Inspector Hayatul Islam, has been sentenced to 34 years of imprisonment and a fine of taka 24,000 has been imposed. The convicted officials include Assistant Commissioner Akram Hossain, Roksana Begum, alias Mukuli Begum, and neighbour of the victim Shamim Reza Rubel, have also been sentenced to one-year jail term. The judgement was pronounced on Monday.

The news of the death in DB custody of a promising student, whom the then opposition leader and present Prime Minister Khaleda Zia claimed as an activist of her party’s student wing, had created a stir and shattered the trust of people in the police. The present ruling party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) even enforced a day-long hartal in the country, demanding the arrest of the detectives. Roksana, who was sentenced in the case, is an activist of the Awami League, rival of the BNP. This had given the case a political colour.

The judgement came at a time when the police is blamed of failure to nab two activists of the ruling BNP accused in a case of death of a girl student of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology about 10 days ago on the campus during a cross-fire between two rival groups. The death of Sadequnnahar Sony had also created a flutter.

Dhaka newspapers carried the news of this conviction, giving it a prominent display with photographs of the convicts.

Defence lawyers told the newspersons that they would file appeal before the higher court.

Indian Army to train Nepalese troops

Kathmandu, June 18
A four-member team of the Indian Army is here to impart training to Nepalese army to help them tackle the Maoist insurgents.

General Bahia will call on Nepalese Chief of the Army Staff Prajwalla Shumsher Rana and also interact with senior army officers at Royal Nepal Army headquarters in Kathmandu. PTI

Oxford honour for Romila Thapar

London, June 18
Ms Romila Thapar, Emeritus Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, will be conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by Oxford University tomorrow. Author of many seminal works on the history of ancient India, Ms Thapar has pioneered both the study of the legends of early Indian history as myths, and the integration of the critical use of archaeology and art history with written sources.

Ms Thapar has been chosen for the degree for her outstanding contribution to literature. PTI

In USA, a VIP can get ordinary treatment
A. Balu

It is common knowledge that in India self-importance of even former VIPs outweighs security considerations. At airports, they and their aides and hangers-on are known to insist on the special privilege of going right up to the tarmac without undergoing security checks. Not so in the USA, where a VIP can find himself to be just a VOP (very ordinary person) on occasions.

A few days ago, former Vice-President Al Gore had the galling experience — twice at that — of being taken aside by airport security officials before boarding the plane.

According to media reports, in the first incident, Mr Gore was pulled aside at Reagan National Airport in Washington DC and the security personnel rifled through his suitcase and briefcase. A passenger on the same flight was quoted as saying: “You are looking out and seeing Al Gore’s unmentionables in his big, carry-on suitcase. You could tell he was thinking ‘this is not happening to me’”.

A day later, when Mr Gore was leaving Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport, he was again taken aside for some extra scrutiny before boarding a flight to New York.

Mr Gore’s spokesman Jano Cabera, who accompanied the former Vice-President during both checks, said: “My understanding is he was randomly selected both times, and both times he was more than happy, as all Americans are in these troubled times, to cooperate.”

Did the former Vice-President, who narrowly missed becoming the President, see any irony in being frisked like your average passenger from the rear of coach?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which reported the two incidents, quoted Mr Gore’s spokesman as saying: “Despite the fact that he won more votes than anyone else in the history of America, except for Ronald Reagan, he is more than happy to do his part for airport security.”

A couple of years ago, the wife of the Governor of Florida, Mr Jeb Bush (younger brother of President Bush), on her return from a holiday trip to Paris had undervalued the gifts she had brought with her. But customs officials at Miami Airport collected from her the required customs duty.

All this could be a valuable lesson for our own VIPs and former VIPs, but given the halo surrounding them, it would perhaps be too much to expect them to emulate Mr Al Gore.

PAKISTAN BRIEFS

PAK RECEIVES 4 MILITARY CHOPPERS
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reportedly received four military helicopters from Russia and is awaiting the arrival of four more. The deal followed a recent meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at the Asian Security Council Summit in Almaty early this month. PTI

GUNMEN KILL THREE SHIAS
MULTAN: Two unidentified gunmen opened fire on Shias outside a mosque here on Monday, killing three worshippers, including two brothers, the police said. Witnesses said, two men with assault rifles walked into the tiny neighbourhood mosque and sprayed bullets on the Shias as they finished evening prayers, the police said. AP

US CONSULATE REOPENS
KARACHI: The US consulate here reopened on Tuesday after last week’s bomb attack, but only American citizens were allowed to enter, a consulate official said. The American Centre inside the consulate would remain temporarily closed to the public. The police had closed all roads surrounding the consulate indefinitely. AFP

MAY SIGNIFICANT FOR PAK: PERVEZ
ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf on Monday said the month of May carried a “very special significance” for Pakistan with regard to its relations with India. “It was in May 1974 that India threw the nuclear gauntlet at Pakistan at Pokhran. It was in May 1998 that Pakistan was literally challenged into becoming the seventh nuclear power in the world. That was the month when Pakistan had chosen to restore the strategic balance in South Asia,” General Musharraf said. PTI

INDO-PAK TENSION EASING: RUMSFELD
WASHINGTON: Noting that tension between India and Pakistan is easing, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said both the countries have indicated their desire for "continued" US involvement in dealing with the crisis. "There is a clear perception that tensions are easing and that the likelihood of a conflict is lessening" but the military situation on the ground and the respective level of alert has "really not changed notably," Mr Rumsfeld told newspersons here on his return from a peace mission to India and Pakistan. PTI

US NATIONALS STILL ARRIVING, SAYS PAK
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has claimed that while there had been an immense decline in the number of incoming foreigners since Friday’s attack on the US Consulate in Karachi, more than 250 US citizens had landed in the port city in the past two days. The total incoming US alone outnumbered all other foreigners, including 64 Britons, the second largest group of international visitors, The Dawn, quoting officials at the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport in Karachi, reported on Tuesday. UNI