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Saturday,
July 20, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Infiltration into Kashmir down, not stopped: USA
Pak to press again for talks with India
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Missing copter found; 21 aboard dead Don’t deport bombers’ kin, Israel warned Indian troupe
held, released
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Infiltration into Kashmir down, not stopped: USA Washington, July 19 To a question about India’s disagreement with the US stand that the cross-border infiltration had stopped, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher clarified: “I didn’t say stopped. I said down.” The incursions of Pakistan-backed terrorists are believed to be the root cause of current tensions between the two South Asian rivals. When informed that India did not think “it is sufficiently down”, Boucher said at his press briefing: “I’m not in a position to discuss this any further because of the nature of the information we might have. That’s our assessment. “We’ll be looking forward to discussing with the Indian government and the others their assessments on this very important issue.” Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes had said yesterday that Pakistan-backed terrorist incursions along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir were continuing, with the army detecting the infiltration of 97 terrorists last month. The US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, Ms Christina Rocca, in her testimony before the Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee of the House of Representatives recalled Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s pledge to permanently stop infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir from his country. “Pakistan needs to keep that pledge in order to begin a process of resolution of the immediate crisis and of its more fundamental differences with India,” she said. “Once tensions begin to subside, the process should be continued by New Delhi agreeing to resume talks with Islamabad on all issues, including Kashmir. “Finally, we will continue to offer our good offices in helping the two sides resume dialogue to resolve their differences,” she added. Ms Rocca said the USA would not impose any peace plan for Jammu and Kashmir on the lines of the West Asia initiative on India and Pakistan. “We are working very hard to help the two sides find mutually acceptable ways to resolve their differences as third party intervention is not welcome in the region. “The only way forward that offers a prospect of genuinely resolving their differences is the path of dialogue and confidence building,” she stated. Ms Rocca was replying to a specific question from US lawmaker Joseph Pitts yesterday who wanted to know why the Bush administration has not initiated a peace plan for Jammu and Kashmir similar to the one proposed for West Asia. “Our position is that an outside government cannot impose a peace plan on the two countries. Hence we are working hard to get both sides to the negotiating table,” she added.
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Recovered body ‘was of Pearl’ Islamabad, July 19 “The results have come, it is Daniel’s body,” the investigator told Reuters on condition of anonymity. U.S. embassy spokesman John Kincannon said the DNA analysis had been completed but had not been handed over to the Pakistani police. “We are not able to confirm yet that they are the remains of Daniel Pearl,” he said. Pearl disappeared from the southern Pakistan city of Karachi on January 23 while researching a story for the Wall Street Journal on Islamic militants. A videotape later emerged showing he had been killed. Meanwhile, lawyers defending Britain-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh said they had appealed today against his conviction and death sentence for the kidnap and murder of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl. Omar’s defence lawyer Abdul Waheed Katpar said his client’s conviction had been based on “fake, false and provenly planted evidence’’ and said there had been gross miscarriage of justice. “It’s an excellent case for appeal,’’ Mr Katpar told the media after filing a six-paged appeal at the provincial Sind High Court in Karachi. “I am 100 per cent sure about my success, I am very confident.’’
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Pak to press again for talks with India Islamabad, July 19 “We were given assurances by the international community, especially the USA and the UK, that they will ask India to start a dialogue,” a government official told AFP on the eve of British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw’s visit to Islamabad. The official claimed that the Pakistani authorities had stopped militants crossing from their side of the Line of Control
(LoC) as demanded by India and Western powers. He said the international mediators had promised to bring India to the negotiating table if the incursions stopped. “It is now up to them to deliver on their promise of bringing India to the negotiating table,” the official added. Pakistani military spokesman Major-Gen Rashi Qureshi said the statements from Washington backed General Musharraf’s assertion that there was no infiltration by militants into Kashmir.
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world watch INDIANS living in Britain and reaping the benefits offered by their adopted land never had it so good. For entertainment, they could visit the dozens of theatres which screened the Sanjay Bhansali film, ‘Devdas’ to weep with the sentimental hero or bask in the beauty of Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai. The more sophisticated Indians could enjoy ‘Bombay Dreams’ a musical from the stable of the famed lyricist and composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, for which our own A.R. Rehman composed the music. The British theatre critics did not like the musical all that much, but one can imagine it becoming the rage among the Indians in Britain. These only whetted their appetite. The ultimate in excitement and ecstasy was the splendid Indian victory over England in the Nat-West one-day cricket final. Playing delightful cricket for over a month, the visiting Indians led by Saurav Ganguly, scored a sensational victory over the Englishmen. That was the icing on the cake for the Indians in Britain. What a victory it was! India had to chase a formidable total of 325. They lost all batting stalwarts, including Sachin Tendulkar, and were placed precariously at around 140 for 5. Enter the two young eagles, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, who with their brilliant stroke play and controlled aggression took India almost to victory before Yuvraj was out. Undettered, Kaif stayed on and in the company of Zaheer Khan completed the formalities. By that one famous victory fittingly achieved at Lord’s, the headquarters of cricket, India rubbed off all painful memories of being the permanent ‘chokers’. No one cared when Saurav Ganguly removed his shirt and danced! The vast Indian population present at the Lord’s cheered and cheered. Some shed tears, covered themselves with the Tricolour . It was a moment they had been waiting for. Britain taught us cricket and now we had beaten them on their own soil. It was ‘Lagaan’ all over under a different scenario. Most of the Indian spectators at the Lord’s were settlers in Britain who had done themselves well in their adopted country. But it was clear their roots were still Indian. For some people this was difficult to comprehend. At the end of the match, local police arrested Gurbux Singh, an NRI and chairman of Britain’s Commission for Racial Equality for behaving in a ‘disorderly’ manner when he stumbled into a police officer from behind. According to the police, both Gurbux Singh and his wife, who was also arrested when she protested at the police action, were handcuffed and taken to Marleybone police station, where after certain legal procedures, they were released on bail. Explained a Scotland Yard officer, “Despite efforts by the officers and those with the man to persuade him to calm himself, Singh behaved in a disorderly manner towards the police officers and those around him. Subsequently, he was arrested under Section 4 of the Public Order Act (threatening behaviour) Gurbax Singh and his wife had to be handcuffed because of their violent behaviour.” Obviously, Gurbax Singh and his wife will be tried in a court of law. The case goes beyond the question of behaviour. The media and the people, if not the court, will focus on the issue of loyalty. It was clear that Gurbax Singh, his wife and his group of Indian supporters were overwhelmed at the Indian victory which led to ‘an incident’, sparking off the trouble. Like many British Indians, they must have been supporting the Indian team throughout the match. Mr Gurbax Singh, a Sikh from Punjab and a resident of Britain for over 50 years admitted that he supported India in cricket. However he added, “But my passion for the Indian cricket team does not make my any less loyal to Britain.” This, indeed, was the crux of the matter. Gurbax Singh, his wife and friends, had obviously failed the loyalty test enunciated by former British Minister Norman Tebbit who damned as ‘traitors’ all immigrants cheering teams from their countries but not England in cricket. The loyalty test applied mostly to Indians, Pakistanis, Bangaldeshis and the West Indians whose teams competed against England in cricket. The ‘loyalty test’ erupted last when Indian and Pakistani teams toured England and were cheered vociferously by their countrymen who had settled down in England and doing pretty well for themselves. Quite often, their ‘deshi’ enthusiasm provoked them to acts of indiscipline like jumping over the fences and running into the ground even before the match was finished. This contrasted sharply with the disciplined attitude of English spectators. The English cricket captain, Naseer Hussain, himself born in Madras and whose family came to Britain some 40 years back, said he was dismayed that people from the sub-continent who had chosen to live in Britain which had offered them a decent living, continued to support teams from their home countries. Of course, he did not use terms like loyalty and disloyalty. People like Tebbit and more so Hussain should understand the emotions of the large Asian population who had migrated out of compulsion and not choice. It was difficult to cut off links from their home lands. Hence the craze for Hindi movies, celebration of festivals and so on. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants worked hard at menial jobs and were bossed over by the British. They experienced overt and covert racism and it was difficult to aspire for top posts. Under the circumstances, they were thrilled when their ‘own’ cricket teams did well against the mother country. It was their way of telling the British. ‘Look, we are somebody. We can thrash you in cricket.’ Such an attitude was bound to hurt the sentiments and also arouse to anger some of the young Britons who felt they were being deprived of jobs by the flood of Asian immigrants. They were upset at the loud support extended by the immigrants to their teams from back home. In fact, this was the same complaint made by Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray who charged Indian Muslims with disloyalty because they cheered Pakistan. |
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Missing copter found; 21 aboard dead Moscow, July 19 Rescuers at a crash site in the Taimyr region of northern Russia yesterday said they had found fragments of the aircraft, which vanished on July 10, across a 50-metre radius, the Interfax news agency reported. They found the remains of the human bodies at the site, and an operation to recover them will begin today, the officials said. The chopper was spotted earlier in the day 56 kms from the location where it sent its last radio signals. It was carrying nine crew members and 12 members of a geological research team. On Wednesday the emergencies ministry officials said the helicopter had probably exploded in mid-air before crashing into the waters of the Arctic.
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Don’t deport bombers’ kin, Israel warned Gaza City, July 19 “The Palestinian authority warns Israel not to take any step to transfer Palestinians,” Nabil Abu Rudeina, a top advisor to Yasser Arafat, said. “This policy of transferring Palestinians will lead to more violence in the area. We ask the Israeli Government to stop this policy,” he said. Public radio said 21 had been rounded up. Israeli ministers threatened to deport the family members if the government’s legal advisers cleared the move.
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Indian troupe
held, released New York, July 19 “Perhaps the woman whose suspicions were aroused had suffered trauma during the September 11 terrorist attacks,” said Verma, who was detained and questioned. Suspicion was aroused as the troupe was rehearsing and looking for landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty. In the process, they gestured.
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