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Monday,
July 29, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Benazir elected PPP
chief unopposed Dhaka varsity closed
Musharraf
arrives in Dhaka today |
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Ukraine Air Force chief sacked
UK imams ‘misled’
Moussaoui Afghanistan to sign landmine
treaty Taliban prisoner alleges sexual abuse Lanka minister meets LTTE adviser USA invites Palestinians Myanmar frees political prisoners
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Benazir elected PPP chief unopposed Islamabad, July 28 Ms Bhutto was the only runner for the chairperson of her 35-year-old Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in its first-ever internal ballot held to comply with new electoral laws introduced by President Musharraf. “Ms Bhutto was unchallenged at the time of closing nominations and as voting began at 9 a.m., there were no objections,” PPP spokesman Farhathulla Babar said, adding: “Therefore she has won uncontested.” Mr Babar said about 1,65,000 party members were casting votes in the country’s 110 districts to elect office-bearers. The results would be formally announced tomorrow evening. Ms Bhutto, the charismatic daughter of Pakistan’s first elected Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, would return home from four years of self-imposed exile to lead the party’s election campaign, Mr Babar said. Her bid to contest the country’s first parliamentary elections since a military takeover almost three years ago is in blatant defiance of President Musharraf’s efforts to keep her out. In the past month he has banned former premiers from a third term in office, and proposed amending the Constitution to bar candidates who have criminal convictions against them. PPP officials dismiss the proposed ban based on convictions, saying the current Constitution only bars candidates with convictions of “moral turpitude,” which, according to them, does not apply to Ms Bhutto. DUBAI: Meanwhile, Ms Bhutto has said the USA should exert pressure on President Musharraf to re-establish democracy in Pakistan and shun terrorism as a state policy. In an article in today’s edition of Gulf News, Ms Bhutto said the Pakistani people, in brief interludes of democratic rule, had consistently opposed policies that created tension with India or promoted extremism in Afghanistan. She said in the Musharraf regime, the militants had created trouble in Kashmir and Afghanistan. In the past few months during the campaign against Al-Qaida, militant strikes in Kashmir had complicated Pakistan’s relations with India, she said. The current Indo-Pak standoff has allowed the militants to escape, she pointed out.
AFP, UNI |
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Dhaka varsity closed Dhaka, July 28 The university authorities announced the closure last night in the wake of massive student protest against Thursday night’s police atrocities on a women’s dormitory. Several thousand students yesterday held a rally demanding the ouster of Anwar Ullah Chowdhury holding him responsible for his failure to protect the girl students and its alleged complicity in harassing the students opposed to the government of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. Mr Chowdhury ordered the closure and suspension of classes to “ensure the safety and security” of the students, teachers and other staffs”. “The campus situation has become volatile and the authorities have no alternative but to take this decision in the greater academic interests”, the official BSS news agency quoted Mr Chowdhury as saying. Over 10,000 students, including nearly 2000 women students, residing in nearly a dozen halls were made to vacate by 8 am, as the police and BDR kept a close vigil, a university spokesman said. Several women students were injured when the police carried out raid in the middle of the night on Thursday in Shamsun Nahar Hall of the university to pick up some so-called “trouble making” students opposed to the decisions of the pro-government faction of university. Students were in a defiant mood and demanded the resignation of the Vice Chancellors, a witness said. Sources said cadres of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) the student front of ruling the Bangladesh Nationalist Party warned students of dire consequences if they joined the demonstration. Soon after the announcement of the closure, a heavy posse of police and BDR were deployed on the campus last night and key entrance were sealed. Meanwhile political parties, civil society and women body have expressed solidarity with the demands of the students and called for resignation of the vice chancellor. The students, had earlier planned to lay a siege to the Vice Chancellor today to force him to quit the post which he declined to do. “There is no question of resignation” Mr Chowdhury told reporters adding the entire incidents was part of a “conspiracy”. The Daily Star in a report said most top leaders of ruling BNP favoured the exit of Anwar Ullah Chowdhury and they opined it was the only way to defuse the situation at Dhaka University which had massive influence among the students in the country. The closure might temporarily silence the movement, but it would again be heated up once the university is opened, the report said.
PTI |
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Musharraf arrives in Dhaka today
Dhaka, July 28 Acting President Zamiruddin Sircar and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will receive the Pakistan President at the ZIA international airport. General Musharraf, who will be accompanied by First Lady Sehba Musharraf and a 30-member delegation, will fly to Dhaka by a special aircraft on the first leg of his two-nation tour that will also take him to Sri Lanka. His tour coincides with general strike tomorrow and on July 30 called by pro-opposition student organisations demanding the resignation of the Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University for last Tuesday’s police attack on female students on the campus. Pro-left student organisations have called for a half-day shut down tomorrow while pro-Awami League student organisations have called for a countrywide dawn-to-dusk general strike on July 30 to press for their demands. Pro-left student organisations have also planned to stage a demonstration in the capital tomorrow to protest General Musharraf’s visit as he took over power in a military coup ousting an elected government in 1999. They also demanded an apology from General Musharraf for the 1971 genocide committed by the Pakistani occupation army in Bangladesh during the war of liberation. UNI |
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Ukraine Air Force chief sacked
Lviv, July 28
The government set up a commission headed by national security chief Yevgeny Marchuk to probe into the crash at an air show in western Ukraine, but President Leonid Kuchma immediately held the military responsible, sacking the country’s Air Force chief. “The culprits should be punished, there is no doubt,” said Mr Kuchma, who broke off his vacation in Crimea to fly to the crash site, describing the incident — which also injured 116 persons — as a “terrible tragedy, a real nightmare.” During an on-the-spot briefing yesterday, Mr Kuchma fired the country’s Air Force chief Viktor Strelnikov and Mr Sergei Oniszhenko, Commander of the 14th Air Force division which took part in the air show. A low-flying Russian-made Sukhoi Su-27 jet appeared to lose control before hitting the ground and exploding in flames during the show in Sknyliv, near Lviv, yesterday afternoon. The Emergencies Ministry said today that 83 persons were killed, including 19 children, and that 116 persons were taken to five hospitals in Lviv. Many were suffering from burns, fractures and head injuries, it said. However, he said an accurate death toll was not yet possible because many victims had been torn apart in the accident, making the body count difficult. Vatican City: Pope John Paul II, in a condolence message sent on Sunday, offered prayers for victims and his spiritual closeness for survivors of the airshow crash in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, which he visited last year in a pilgrimage. The crash of a Ukrainian fighter jet into a crowd of spectators at the airshow yesterday claimed at least 83 lives and left more than 100 persons injured. A telegram, sent in the Pope’s name by Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, said the pontiff, who is in Toronto leading a Catholic youth jamboree, was informed about the crash. The pope, “deeply saddened by the many victims and injured, desires to show his affectionate closeness to those stricken by the tragic event,” the message said. AFP, AP |
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Another Russian air crash: 14 dead Moscow, July 28 The four-engined Ilyushin Il-86, Russia’s answer to the jumbo jet and capable of carrying up to 350 passengers, had returned from the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The Pulkovo Airlines jet was setting off to its home base in St Petersburg, empty but for the flight and cabin crews, officials at St Petersburg said. Although air safety standards in the former Soviet Union have been under scrutiny for years, aerospace industry data indicated that this was the first fatal crash of an Il-86 since it entered service in 1980. A reporter for Russia’s NTV television said he saw the plane climb sharply from Sheremetyevo-1, the Moscow terminal used mainly for domestic flights, and then drop out of the sky on to its tail into a nearby forest. A series of explosions followed, and a huge plume of smoke was still rising from the burning plane after the crash. “The Ilyushin 86 plane that crashed was carrying 16 people on board — four flight crew and 12 air stewards,” said an Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman.
Reuters  |
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UK imams ‘misled’
Moussaoui Paris, July 28 In an exclusive interview with The Observer, Aicha el-Wafi, 55, claimed that “bad imams” had brainwashed her son Zacaria Moussaoui, the so-called twentieth suicide bomber, after he moved to London in 1992. Speaking after Moussaoui became the first person to appear in court facing charges over the attacks on New York and Washington that killed almost 3,000 persons, his mother also criticised the British Government for allowing people to “preach such hatred and extremism” in public mosques. They had turned her son into someone “unrecognisable” from the innocent child she knew, she said. Moussaoui, 34, was arrested in the USA last August after he was seen acting suspiciously at a flight training school in Minnesota. US prosecutors claimed that he would otherwise had been a part of the Al-Qaida team involved in the four hijackings on September 11. His mother flew from her home in France last week to Washington, where Moussaoui pleaded guilty and then changed his plea to not guilty during a court appearance. She did not like what she saw. She was shocked by his “frightened eyes” and he was “very, very unwell both mentally and physically” after 11 months’ solitary confinement. Investigators claim that after Moussaoui became involved with British extremists he went to Afghanistan in 1997 to train at one of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist camps. They say he became well connected with Al-Qaida leaders and was sent to the USA for flight training. There he aroused suspicion by showing no interest in learning how to land or take off, but just in how to fly a jet in mid-air. The FBI claims he has links with Mohammed Atta’s Hamburg cell in Germany, which organised the September 11 attacks. While El-Wafi accepted that her youngest child was involved with radical Islamic groups, she dismissed allegations that he was involved in September 11 attacks. She has received letters claiming that all evidences were manufactured. “He is my son,” she said. “I know him better than anybody in the world. He didn’t do this,” she added. However, she gave a fascinating insight into how her child was drawn into the murky world of Islamic extremism soon after moving to London, where Moussaoui rented a small flat in Brixton and forged links with prominent extremists. Moussaoui’s mother said: “These British imams... are a very bad influence on many young Muslims. The British Government also has a responsibility for allowing such people to preach such hatred and extremism in public places like mosques. This has nothing to do with real Islam. It is false.” The Guardian, London |
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Afghanistan to sign landmine treaty Kabul, July 28 Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah announced at the launch of a four-day mine awareness conference here that the government of President Hamid Karzai would discuss joining the treaty at a Cabinet on Monday. Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world after 23 years of conflict, with an estimated 10 million mines scattered across the country. Between five and 10 persons are wounded in mine blasts daily. “I would like to declare that the
lawful government of Afghanistan, having considered (the) convention and pending our Cabinet approval... is ready to become a signatory to the treaty and undertake faithfully to perform and carry out the stipulations therein contained,” Mr Abdullah said. The conference, organised by the government and several anti-mine groups, is aimed at raising awareness within Afghanistan of the importance of a ban on anti-personnel mines.
AFP |
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Taliban prisoner alleges sexual abuse
Chaman, July 28 “The Taliban prisoners are facing extreme torture,” Mullah Fazal Mohammad, a former Taliban commander who was admitted to a hospital in this Pakistani border town, said. He said 300 prisoners are languishing in the jail near a US airbase in the main southern city of Kandahar, 100 km north-west here. The torture was inflicted by Afghan intelligence agents interrogating the prisoners, he said without specifying if US military officers based near the jail were aware of the torture and stark conditions. “Ferocious dogs are often let loose in the prison cells by Afghan agents who use third degree methods in the process of extracting information about the Taliban,” he told AFP. “To humiliate them, the local secret service agents subject them to sexual abuse and inflict injuries to their private parts,” he alleged. “Most prisoners are suffering from eye diseases and are left to go hungry, with no dinner and sometimes no lunch.” The detained Taliban included former Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakil, his spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmaen, former Governor of western Herat province Maulawi Khairullah Khairkhawa and some other Taliban officials. Mohammad, (30), who served as the militia’s commander in Afghanistan’s southern region, was arrested after the fall of Taliban in December. Having partially lost eyesight, he was let off four days ago on health grounds and brought to Chaman yesterday for medical treatment. AFP |
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Lanka minister meets LTTE adviser Colombo, July 28 The meeting took place yesterday at the Norway Ambassador’s residence in London in the presence of Norwegian facilitators, including Deputy Foreign Minister of Norway Vidar Helgesen. A statement issued by the Norwegian Embassy in London said: “The meeting marked a new phase in the ongoing peace process in Sri Lanka. The discussion covered a variety of issues regarding the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and preparations for direct negotiations in Thailand, including the agenda for negotiations and the question of an interim administration.” “The meeting lasted for two hours. This was the first direct meeting between a Federal Government Minister supervising the peace process and the chief negotiator of the LTTE,” the statement added.
UNI |
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USA invites Palestinians Jerusalem, July 28 It would be the highest-level contact between the US administration and Palestinian Authority officials since President George W. Bush called last month for Yasser Arafat to be sidelined as Palestinian leader. Palestinian cabinet minister and senior negotiator Saeb Erekat said yesterday the delegation would include himself and new Interior Minister Abdel Razzak al Yaha, in charge of the Palestinian security forces. There was no immediate confirmation from the USA. The talks would take place on August 5 and 6. Meanwhile, Rev Jesse Jackson met Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres today at the start of a “bridge-building” mission here to try to help Israelis and Palestinians end their bitter 22-month conflict. Peres told Jackson that Israel was doing all it could to ease the situation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living under curfew after the army re-occupied almost the entire West Bank on June 19 after the deadly Palestinian suicide bombings. Reuters, AFP |
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Myanmar frees political prisoners Yangon, July 28 This morning 32 individuals serving sentences for the breach of law were released from various correctional facilities. They all are in good health and reunited with their respective families, the government said in a statement faxed to Reuters. Today’s release, the largest such move since the release of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi in May, took place a few days before the visit of U.N. special envoy Razali.
Reuters |
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New Zealand PM to form govt soon Auckland, July 28 Ms Clark’s centre-left Labour Party swept back into power in yesterday’s general elections with more seats than it previously held but lacking a coalition partner with sufficient numbers after its ally the Progressive Coalition Party (PCP), won only two seats.
Reuters |
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Pak planes for Oman
Islamabad, July 28 |
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Lost Buddhist city found south of Kabul London, July 28 Known locally as Kaffir Got, Fortress of the Infidels, the lost city dating back to the 2nd century is hidden behind a 12,000 ft mountain pass and buried under sand.
PTI |
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Islamabad, July 28
