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Thursday,
August 1, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Pervez firm on ending
infiltration: Powell Pak govt stable, says US envoy
JeM leader’s detention extended Pak allows madarsa graduates to contest Lashkar chief not in custody, claims govt
95 pc Pak cops corrupt: WB |
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Khaleda acknowledges Pak regret Protests force Dhaka VC to quit
Pilot dies in plane crash
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Pervez firm on ending
infiltration: Powell Washington, July 31 In his briefing to reporters accompanying him on his trip through South and South-East Asia, Powell said: “I was able to make sure that the commitment from the Pakistani side remained solid, with President Musharraf to end cross-border infiltration. “Not only did he give the assurance publicly, but in private he was even more positive with respect to his commitment to ending all infiltration.” With Musharraf, Powell said, he addressed the issue of the camps training terrorists, “and the best way to put the response is they will be dealt with in due course...The important point though is that he (Musharraf) reaffirmed the end of cross-border activity and reaffirmed it as a permanent decision that they have made, and not a tactical decision. “It (the discussion with Musharraf) became a forceful discussion back and forth as I pointed out that we can’t verify that yet and the Indians certainly don’t accept it yet and we have to do everything we can to make sure that what he is saying is the case in order for that argument to have credibility,” he recounted. The Secretary of State emphasised that he is unable at this point to independently verify whether cross-border infiltration was down or not. “The chief of ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) was also at the meetings (in Pakistan) and he too reaffirmed that cross-border infiltration will stop,” Powell told journalists en route to Brunei where he was attending the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting. He expected both sides to stick to their commitments, Pakistan to end cross-border terrorism and India on de-escalating forces and getting to the table. He minced few words on his latest trip to India and Pakistan last weekend when he called the Kashmir dispute an international issue and urged New Delhi to hold “free and fair” elections in that state. On the Indian side, Powell said: “I was pleased that there was a solid commitment to dialogue. They understood their dialogue had to include all the issues between the two nations but especially it had to include Kashmir. There would continue to be considerable back and forth between the USA and India and Pakistan, as and when the infiltration comes down. “The key pacing item here I think will be whether or not it happens before or after the election in Kashmir,” Powell wondered. Elections in Kashmir, an official emphasised, “have to be run under Governor’s rule or President’s rule. In this case no one trusts (Chief Minister) Farooq Abdullah.” “It took U.S. intervention for Pakistan to leave Kargil,” an official recalled. “And don’t forget, Musharraf’s pledge (to end cross-border terrorism) was made to the U.S. and not to India. So we have to guarantee it.” “It’s a balancing act between the two sides,” another official told IANS. Meanwhile, Powell has clarified that his statement in New Delhi that Kashmir was “on the international agenda” was not meant in any intrusive way but merely that the world was focused on this hotspot. “I just meant it the way I said it. It’s on the international agenda. Everybody’s now focused on it. Everybody understands we had a close run thing about a month or a month and a half ago, and the ultimate cause of that potential conflict was Kashmir,” Powell told reporters. “So now everybody in the international community I think is focused on the need to get this tension down, to get demobilisation back to original positions, but then in order not to see it start all over again, we need to get the two sides into a discussion on Kashmir. If you try to internationalise it at this point, it will not move forward because of Indian resistance to that.” Said a State Department official: “Kashmir has been on the international agenda since Kargil (the conflict in 1999), since the nuclear tests (in 1998). This is nothing big for India.”
IANS |
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Pak govt stable, says US envoy
Washington, July 31 Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during her confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Ms Powell asserted that General Musharraf was “firmly in charge” and said she saw no “particular threat” to his political survival. She, however, added that the President ‘faces a backlash due to his foreign policy on Afghanistan and Jammu and Kashmir, and religious extremists pose a personal threat to his life’. “While he faces a very tough job, the next few months are critical depending on how he manages the political transition and the situation in the region,” said Ms Powell, a senior Foreign Service officer who has served in India and Pakistan. She said, “The next few months would be very critical as general Musharraf goes ahead with his crackdown on extremism and presides over the political transition to democracy with elections due in October”. Ms Powell said: “I have used my time in Pakistan as charge d’affaires in the past two months to underscore to Pakistanis in and out of the government the absolute importance of free and fair elections.” Ms Powell, who replaces Wendy Chamberlin as the Ambassador, also took the opportunity to praise general Musharraf for his “unstinted” support to the USA in its war against terrorism. “The American agenda in Pakistan is ambitious but pragmatic. The U.S.A. is trying to help Pakistan to police more effectively its borders in Afghanistan and to combat terrorism and enhance its law enforcement capabilities.” IANS
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JeM leader’s detention extended Islamabad, July 31 The Lahore High Court yesterday ruled that Azhar’s detention would be extended till August 15 this year on a petition by the Punjab Government. Azhar was granted exemption from appearance before the court as he was recovering from surgery, local daily, The News, said. The Jaish leader, one of the three militants freed by India to secure the release of the passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999, was first detained in December following the attack on Parliament. Azhar was held under house arrest and later reports said he was shifted to a prison. He is currently held under the Maintenance of Public Order, which is more of a preventive detention. Azhar has not been formally charged with any offence. His organisation was banned by President Pervez Musharraf along with the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the two other sectarian outfits in January. The three-judge Bench also extended the prison term of three SSP men. Their detention expires on August 7. The provincial government had arrested a large number of activists of religious organisation in a crackdown on terrorist outfits and detained them under
MPO. The order stipulates that the detainees cannot be held beyond 90 days without review.
PTI |
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Pak allows madarsa graduates to contest
Islamabad, July 31 The Election Commission issued a ruling, carried in state-run media late yesterday, stating that graduates of government-recognised religious seminaries, known as madrasas, will be considered eligible to contest general election in October. “For the purpose of forthcoming general elections the holders of the ‘Sanad Shahadatul Almiya Fill Uloom ul Arabia Wal Islamia’ (certificates in Arabic and Islamic Studies)... shall be eligible to contest the forthcoming general election,” the ruling said. The certificates were “recognised as equivalent to MA Arabic/Islamic Studies for teaching purposes by the University Grants Commission,” it said. The order overrules earlier objections by the state University Grants Commission (UGC) which had told the commission that the madrasa alumni did not meet the criteria for graduation, the Nation reported. The UGC had said that graduates need to have completed English and Pakistan Studies, a UGC official told the daily. The law barring non-graduates from elections was issued by President Pervez Musharraf on June 22, and upheld by the Supreme Court on July 11. It sparked a massive uproar, with critics saying that it eliminated more than 90 per cent of the country’s population. AFP
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Lashkar chief not in custody, claims govt
Islamabad, July 31 Court officials said the government made the statement in a written reply to a petition filed by Saeed’s wife, demanding that her husband be released or produced in court. LeT was among the groups accused by India of the Deccember 13 attack on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, in which 14 persons including the five assailants, were killed. Saeed had been taken into custody days after the attack in an effort to ease tensions with India. He had been released after three months, but his family claimed that he had been taken into custody again in May. Saeed’s lawyer Nazir Ahmad Ghazi accused the government today of concealing facts in the case. “The family of Saeed is extremely worried about his well-being,’’ Ghazi told the court. He asked the judge to order the government to produce him in court. Judge Ijaz Chaudhry set August 2 the date for the next hearing. Saeed’s wife, Memona, said her husband was an educator and scholar and that “it is the duty of every Muslim to strive and struggle to serve the cause of Islam.’’ Saeed’s supporters said he had resigned from LeT, or Army of Medina, days before the group had been banned and that he had no links to any outlawed group. AP
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95 pc Pak cops corrupt: WB Islamabad, July 31 The most fundamental for the bank, as well as for the West, was Pakistan’s transition to a moderate and modern Islamic state, having co-education to show gender equality and madrasa reforms to have more progressive Muslims. The bank stated that if the country adhered steadfastly to the stated path of reforms, it would get as much as $3.347 billion from 2002-05 under the International Development Association terms, and $300 million each during 2004 and 2005 under the IBRD terms to support the process. Based on its meetings with officials, the bank observed that 95 per cent of police officials were corrupt. It quoted a “respected police superintendent”, saying “The police force is so crippled that beyond combating efforts at extortion, it can do little to prevent or punish crime.” It observed that misdeeds ranged from bribe-taking at high levels to the 47 officers found to be heroin addicts.
UNI |
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Khaleda
acknowledges Pak regret Dhaka, July 31 In his written speech at the banquet hosted by Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia last evening at the Bangladesh- China Friendship Centre, the Pakistan President, repeating his regret, said “My brothers and sisters in Pakistan share with their fellow brothers and sisters in Bangladesh profound grief over the
parameters of the events of 1971. We feel sorry for this tragedy and the pain it caused to both our peoples.” Earlier, in his remark written in the visitor’s book at the Savar National Mausoleum of the Martyrs of the 1971 War, he had expressed “it was regrettable”. In her speech after General Musharraf, Ms Khaleda Zia acknowledged the regret and thanked him, saying, “Thank you, Mr President, for your candid expression on the events of 1971.” She held the view, “This will, no doubt, help mitigate the old wounds”. Bangladesh Foreign Minister Morshed Khan, while briefing mediapersons after the formal talks at a hotel on Tuesday afternoon, ‘welcomed’ the expression of regret. However, he added, “We do not want to embarrass a guest by discussing issues like an apology for the 1971 war situation. It is the spirit of the people of the two countries that will decide it.” Writer-journalist Shahriar Kabir, convener of the newly formed Civic Body Agitated Citizens Society refused to accept anything short of an unconditional formal apology by Pakistan. The body staged a demonstration on July 29 at the Central Shahid Minar, protesting the visit of General Musharraf where the demand was raised afresh for an apology. Shahriar Kabir was arrested in November last year for possession of a video cassette of Hindu minority families which had fled to Kolkata. He was facing charges of sedition. Prof Abdul Mannan Chowdhury, a teacher at the Dhaka University and secretary-general of the Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, a body agitating for trial of war criminals and collaborators of the 1971 liberation war said this morning that the organisation would not accept an expression of ‘sorry’. Pakistan must formally apologise for the genocide committed by its army in 1971 and try those responsible, he asserted. The gloomy face of General Musharraf, seen at all functions telecast by local television stations, was an indication of his embarrassment during formal talks on Tuesday. Nasim Khan, a senior leader of ‘stranded Pakistanis’ met General Musharraf at his hotel suite on Tuesday and urged him for early action for their repatriation. |
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Protests force Dhaka VC to quit
Dhaka, July 31 Education Minister Osman Faruk told reporters that Mr Anwarullah Chowdhury had tendered his resignation and a letter to this effect had been forwarded to Prime Minister Begum Zia, Chancellor of the university. Mr Faruk expressed hope that normalcy would be returned to the campus. He, however, gave no hint when the university, which was closed sine die on Saturday, would be opened. Students of the university had been agitating for a week and were on a hunger strike demanding the ouster of Mr Chowdhury. Though the Vice-Chancellor resigned, the students refused to call off their strike saying only one of their six demands had been met. They also demanded the resignation of Proctor of the university and withdrawal of cases against agitating students. Mr Chowdhury had earlier refused to step down saying he would continue in his post till a body set up to probe the alleged incidents came out with its findings. The police had raided the dormitory and allegedly harassed and beaten some girls students up last week leading to protests on the campus. Mr Chowdhury, a senior teacher of the university was made the Vice-Chancellor after Begum Khaleda Zia led four-party alliance came to power last October. This is probably the first case in recent time that the Vice-Chancellor of a public university had to quit in the face of students agitation. PTI
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US, N. Korean
leaders’ meet Bandar Sei Begawan, July 31 Paek met Powell for an informal chat on the sidelines of a regional security forum in Brunei. It was the highest level contact between the USA and Communist North Korea since President George W. Bush took office in 2001 and applied the brakes to tentative US moves towards detente with North Korea. “North Korea and the USA have agreed that both countries would continue their dialogue,” Paek told reporters during the ASEAN Regional Forum. He also said his bilateral meeting with Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi had gone well. They were attending the ASEAN Regional Forum, along with foreign ministers from 19 other countries and the European Union.
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Pilot dies in plane crash
Dhaka, July 31 The Chinese-built A-5 trainer aircraft broke into pieces before striking a coastal fishing settlement, igniting three mud and straw huts on the ground. At least seven village children were also reported missing after the accident which happened 55 km south-east of Chittagong. DPA
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Clarifies Delhi remark on J&K
In video: Nancy Powell succeeds Wendy
Chamberlin as the next US Ambassador to Pakistan. (
