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Wednesday,
August 7, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Benazir may contest against Musharraf ‘No way’ of influencing J&K poll
Buddhist peace march begins |
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No lie-detector tests: US senators
Water cannons fired at Jakarta students 2 officials suspended for buying Indian wheat Nepal SC upholds House dissolution Palestinians reject Gaza plan
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Benazir may contest against Musharraf Islamabad, August 6 In an interview to local daily The News from London published today, Ms Bhutto said she might contest the presidential election if she was not allowed to become an elected Prime Minister for the third time. Ms Bhutto also accused certain elements in the Musharraf administration of patronising Al-Qaida militants to create an uncertain political situation. “This was being done to help the extremists to manoeuvre their way out of the present crisis,” she alleged. Ms Bhutto, said her party did not want to waste its time in the Election Commission by getting entrapped in a legal maze to dislodge her party from the election process altogether. She also brushed aside all apprehensions on her ‘backing out’ and return to Pakistan following the change in the legal title of her party and said she was determined to come back and lead the PPP’s Parliamentarians in the October elections. “Let me confirm that I will come and lead the people in this hour of test and will not let them (her supporters) down,” she said. Meanwhile the newly formed party submitted a list of its office-bearers and accounts to Pakistan’s Election Commission in compliance with the new electoral rules formed by the military regime. According to a press release of the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians, the PPP today submitted its documents comprising certificates of intra-party polls, party constitution and bank statements to the Election Commission as required under the Political Parties Order 2002. A total of 57 political parties have thus far submitted their documents and information to the commission. All parties were supposed to hold intra-party elections by August 5 and within seven days of these elections they have to submit a certificate and other papers under the provisions of the Political Parties order — 2002. The commission said that parties that did not get themselves registered with the commission would not be allotted election symbols. However, one of Pakistan’s oldest parties, the Awami National Party, declined to seek new registration, while the Pakistan Muslim League (N), headed by the new leader, Shahabaz Sharif submitted its party constitution to the commission yesterday and was expected to file detailed documents by August 12.
PTI |
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‘No way’ of influencing J&K poll Islamabad, August 6 The question of Pakistan manipulating the elections did not arise because of heavy presence of Indian troops in the valley, Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told reporters. He admitted that the international opinion currently favoured holding of elections in Jammu and Kashmir but maintained that was no substitute to Islamabad’s demand for plebiscite. He, however, said “Pakistan can in no way influence the election one way or the other”. On the issue of foreign observers, he said it was obvious that “there is something they (India) want to hide. That is the reason they are not allowing foreign observers which is quite customary these days.” Meanwhile, a European Union (EU) team has arrived in Pakistan to observe the October parliamentary elections, an EU spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The five-member team will watch the conduct of the October 10 national and provincial parliamentary poll, the spokeswoman for the EU delegation said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The 54-nation Commonwealth has said it will also send a monitoring team.
AP, PTI |
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Buddhist peace march begins Islamabad, August 6 Hand in hand, monks from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan gathered at the ancient Buddhist town of Taxila, 30 km west of Islamabad, to launch a peace march across the subcontinent’s rival neighbours. The participants offered prayers for peace in front of a decorated sedan containing the sacred ashes of Buddha brought by the monks from Japan. “These sacred ashes were received by the Buddhists in Japan from their counterparts in China some 1,300 years ago,” Japanese monk Terasawa Junsei told AFP. “The ashes originated from this place during the Gandhara civilisation, before being moved to China.” Joined by Pakistani Buddhist, Christian and Muslim members of several non-governmental groups, the peace activists observed three minutes’ silence in front of the stupa of Ashoka, the Buddhist emperor of India, to refresh the memory of the world’s first atomic bomb attack. Wearing yellow robes and singing hymns, the monks unfurled banners bearing the slogans: “Nuclear graveyard of mutual destruction or land of great civilisation for peace”, and “All nuclear weapons be abolished”. The march coincides with the 57th anniversary of the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima by the USA on August 6, 1945.
AFP |
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Brother of Sikh hate-crime victim shot in USA Washington, August 6 The 52-year-old Sukhpal Singh, brother of Balbir Singh Sodhi, was killed on Sunday morning in San Francisco while he was driving his cab by someone outside the vehicle, they said. Balbir, a gas station owner in Mesa, Arizona, was killed on September 15 by a gunman driving through the station. Sukhpal, a resident of Daly City, California, was on the way home from his shift as a United Cab driver just before 4 am local time when someone outside his vehicle shot him in San Francisco’s Mission district, according to police and Singh’s manager. The police said there was no evidence that Sukhpal’s killing was a hate crime. He may have been the victim of a bullet intended for somebody else, they said. “We don’t exactly know what we have, but from all indications, it looked like the cab driver was at the wrong place at the wrong time though no fault of his own,” Inspector Joseph Toomey told the local media. The murder has sent shock-waves through the entire Indian community in the country. However, the Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force (SMART) has urged the police to investigate the murder as a hate crime. According to media reports, as gunshots rang, Sukhpal’s taxi careened down 24th Street towards Mission Steet and struck a parked car which burst into flames when it hit another car. Sukhpal was pronounced dead at the scene with at least one gunshot wound. His cousin, Harjit Singh Sodhi, said from his Phoenix, Arizona, home: “Like all American citizens, we want peace. They (the two brothers) came here to live good lives. It (the killing of both of them) is terrible. I pray for peace and for God to bless us, and all victims of this type of violence.” Sukhpal’s wife, two daughters and a son live in Passiwal village in Punjab, according to Harjit Singh. Sukhpal had come to the USA in 1990 and worked for several years as a taxi driver, sending money to his family. Sukhpal’s four remaining brothers live in Arizona and family members planned to go to San Francisco as soon as they could. “Everyone is crying,” said Harjit and hoped Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would ask President George W. Bush to ensure the safety of American Sikhs. Sikhs were targeted after September 11 as their turbans and skin colour made them resemble Middle Easterns, like the men blamed for the attacks. The trial of Frank Roque, who has been charged with the killing of Balbir, begins on November 12.
PTI |
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No lie-detector tests: US senators Washington, August 6 Some of them see the FBI move as a breach of the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches while others opine that the lawmakers should be careful about disclosing intelligence information to the media. According to Roll Call, a journal reporting on events on Capitol Hill, the FBI wants to know who told CNN and other news agencies about two Al-Qaida messages intercepted by the super-secretive National Security Agency (NSA) prior to September 11 attacks. The messages received on September 10
said:" Tomorrow is zero hour” and “The match begins tomorrow,” although the intercepts were not translated by NSA analysts until after the attacks. Senate minority leader Republican Trent Lott does not see any justification for lawmakers complaining about FBI investigation. “I can’t help but be amused that there has been misconduct, and then there is a complaint when the investigation begins,” he told reporters. His advice to lawmakers is
to “keep their mouths shut when it involves sensitive and classified information.” Democrat Senator Joseph Lieberman said there was “too much leaking going on in Washington” and that Senators, like Caeser’s wife, must be above suspicion. “I do believe that our colleagues ought to submit to the polygraph test. I know polygraph tests are not 100 per cent accurate.” he added. The irony of the whole episode is - as Republican Senator John McCain pointed out- “here is an organisation (FBI) compiling dossiers on people who are investigating the same organisation” (A joint House-Senate intelligence panel is looking into allegations of intelligence lapses by the FBI and CIA before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon). Mr McCain said lawmakers were increasingly upset about the idea of FBI polgraphs for themselves and their staff members, which, he suggested, was a violation of the constitutional separation of powers. Democrat Senator Robert Byrd commented:
”The nation seems to be taking an alarming path recently. The Attorney-General wants neighbour to spy on neighbour. Senators and their staffs are being asked to take lie-detector tests. We must guard against turning our country into a police state where personal privacy rights are trampled on in the name of the Justice Department. This must not be the price for security in the USA.” |
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Water cannons fired at Jakarta students Jakarta, August 6 It was the third straight day of demonstrations in front of the heavily guarded Parliament where the country’s supreme legislature is holding its annual two-week meeting. About 3,000 people, most of them students, demanded the 700-member body introduce direct presidential elections and eliminate a block of 38 seats reserved for representatives of the security forces. “We must have reforms or die,” demonstrators chanted. Police strung razor wire behind the main gates to prevent the students from entering the compound. When protesters began rocking the gates and throwing plastic water bottles at officers, three water cannons were used to disperse them. The People’s Consultative Assembly is considering several changes to the country’s 1945 constitution as part of the yearly session, which ends Monday. These include eliminating the Assembly’s role as an electoral college that decides who will be head of state. Instead reformers want a popular election held every five years.
AP |
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2 officials suspended for buying Indian wheat Dhaka, August 6 The suspension comes after six probe committees found 2,000 sacks of Indian wheat meant for poultry feed at an abandoned government granary in northern Bangladesh. The sacks bore seals of the Food Corporation of India, the committees said. They suggested that the silos be sealed off immediately and the imported wheat be tested for quality assessment. “We have suspended two officials. More will be suspended after the completion of an impartial investigation,” Food Minister Abdullah Al Noman said yesterday. Food Ministry sources claimed that Armed activists of the ruling party forced Food Department officials to buy low-quality Indian wheat at high prices from them, ignoring local growers. The sources said this resulted in a loss of $17.24 million to the government. A survey in Pabna district found that 78 per cent of the 12,000 tonnes of wheat purchased for the district’s main granaries was procured in 10 days. Reports said middlemen and influential people in the area allegedly belonging to the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, forced the officials in four districts to purchase huge quantities of Indian wheat. IANS |
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Nepal SC upholds House dissolution Kathmandu, August 6 Rejecting a petition by 56 former lawmakers seeking reconvening of Parliament, an 11-member jury headed by Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyay ruled that no precondition shall be applicable to the Prime Minister’s discretion to dissolve the house of representatives. The petition, supported by former premier Girija Prasad Koirala, contended that the elections would be difficult to hold when the country was being ravaged by Maoist insurgency. The court in its verdict said, “The Prime Minister may discuss the matter regarding the dissolution of the House with his Cabinet colleagues but the premier need not take the matter to the Cabinet for discussion”. “ The Prime Minister’s recommendation to dissolve the House can’t be regarded as ill-intentioned as mentioned by those in the writ petition”, the court said. “The dissolution of the House falls under the Prime Minister’s prerogative and the court cannot question its validity on political grounds”, it said. King Gyanendra on May 22 dissolved the House of Representatives in accordance with Article 53 (4) of the constitution at the recommendation of Mr Deuba and announced mid-term poll in November.
PTI |
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Palestinians reject Gaza plan Gaza City, August 6 “The Palestinians reject this plan. Our mission is to resist the occupation, and such a sedative plan aims to calm criticism by the international community and gain time,” said a Gaza Hamas leader, Mr Ismail Abu Shanab. Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer met late yesterday with Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razaq al-Yahya to discuss the plan,. JERUSALEM: Israel has presented the Palestinians with a security plan to wind down the violence in the first high-level meeting since the latest explosion of Middle East unrest, as the United Nations demanded an Israeli pullback from re-occupied areas. Israeli troops near Jemin also gunned down two Palestinian militants from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade today.
AFP |
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Suu Kyi ready for talks with junta Kuala Lumpur, August 6 “There is a common effort to try to discuss the necessary political and constitutional issues,” Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail told Reuters on his return to Kuala Lumpur after a six-day visit to Yangon. Razali said the discussions would take place “very, very soon”. The talks would certainly happen before his next visit to the country, due within a “couple of months”. The envoy also gave a written statement. “Mr Razali was informed by Aung San Suu Kyi that as a consequence of her recent travels, she was willing to cooperate with the government in ways that directly benefit all the peoples of Myanmar and are conducive to the evolution of a democratic state,” it said.
Reuters |
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A day after she constituted a subsidiary party to escape disqualification, two-time former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto announced that she would return and contest presidential polls against Mr Pervez Musharraf if she wasn’t allowed to seek re-election as Prime Minister for the third time.
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