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Friday,
August 9, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Sri Lanka
hints at snap poll Another
graft case against Hasina Pak links
attacks on yatris, Christian school Pak
approves new police law ‘Greater
security risk’ for minorities Arabs
will repulse attack on Iraq: Saddam |
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Hundreds
attend Sikh festival in Italy
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Sri Lanka hints at snap poll Colombo, August 8 Constitutional Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris said the government was unable to implement its political plan to end years of ethnic bloodshed and revive the country’s struggling economy with the President bring able to dismiss Parliament when it completes one year in office. “There is a serious question of stability. We cannot implement our political agenda with the prospect of dissolution any time after December 5 hanging over our heads like a sword of Damocles,” Peiris said. Peiris said the United National Party-led government wanted Kumaratunga to agree to a constitution amendment which seeks to deprive her of the power to sack the government in December, a year after the last general election. “We have conveyed to the President that she should agree to take away her power to dissolve Parliament,” Peiris said. “If she does not, then we will consider the option of calling a snap election. “What we are asking is very democratic and reasonable. Where in the world do you have a situation where the President can sack an elected government arbitrarily and capriciously?” said the minister, who is also the government spokesman. He said the government expected a response “as soon as possible” because “this is not something we can drag on for long”. The message had been conveyed to Kumaratunga through former Foreign Minister and adviser to the President, Mr Lakshman Kadirgamar, earlier this week. According to Peiris, the UNP was expecting to increase its representation in the 225-member House by at least another 23 seats from the present 114. The forecast was based on the party sweeping over 97 per cent of local government bodies at polls held in May. However, the party may not pull in the two-thirds majority required to overhaul the constitution without the help of smaller parties representing the minorities, he said. The threat of fresh elections was issued by the UNP as the relationship between the President and her political rival, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, became heated in the country’s first attempt at a cohabitation administration. Kumaratunga is set to continue till 2005 when her term as elected executive head of state runs out. Her People’s Alliance (PA) coalition is in the Opposition in the present legislature. KILINOCHCHI: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have said they were totally dependent on Norway and its “genuine facilitation” in finding a negotiated political settlement to the ethnic crisis in the island nation. LTTE’s political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan, in an interview, vehemently denied any truth in Colombo-based media allegations that the Tigers were trying to elbow the Norway facilitation out of the scene. “It is totally wrong. In fact, we totally rely on the facilitation of the Royal Norwegian Government and we have full confidence in them,’’ he said. Mr Thamilselvan indicated that the facilitation of Norway has taken the process to a long way, especially with the parties to the conflict (the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE) maintaining the truce agreement well on the ground over a period of seven months without major incidents of violation.
IANS, UNI |
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Another
graft case against Hasina Dhaka, August 8 The first graft case was for purchase of 19 MIG-29 fighter planes from Russia in a state-to-state deal of Taka 719 crore. In this case a former Chief of Air Staff, Defence Secretary and some other officials had been made co-accused. In the new case a former Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Nurul Islam
(retd), two other retired navy high officials, Commodore AKM Azad and Harunur Rashid and Mr Abdul Awal
Minto, a former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries are co-accused. All three navy officers have been forced to retire a few months ago. Mr Minto was the convener of the Election Fund Raising Committee of the Awami League in 1996. The Awami League, winning a majority, returned to power after 21 years. He was angered by the Awami League for refusing export of gas through pipeline to India, which he was negotiating on behalf of the US exploration giant Unocal, as its local agent. He switched side to the BNP following a public assurance by Ms Khaleda Zia to nominate him as a Mayoral candidate in the Dhaka City Corporation elections. Now the Khaleda government was also non-committal about the gas export and a BNP leader had been nominated in the Mayoral poll. |
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Pak links attacks on yatris, Christian school
Islamabad, August 8 “First violence takes place here at Murree. The very next day a violent incident takes place there in (Jammu and Kashmir)... It seems that those who have committed this are the same people who back the perpetrators of the attack in Kashmir,” Information Minister Nisar A. Memon told BBC Radio in an interview yesterday. “I have been compelled to say that perhaps under some deliberate plan ... first do this here and then there ... It is just a plot to malign Pakistan,” Mr Memon said. His comments followed reports that the three militants, who were involved in the attack on the Murree school on August 5, apparently blew themselves up in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, (PoK) after they were identified and questioned by villagers. Pakistan has not yet officially identified the militants nor the group they belonged to. Mr Memon criticised India for fixing the blame on Pakistan. Responding to the Indian allegation that the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba was responsible for the Pahalgam episode, he said “This Indian game ought to have come to an end. We altogether reject the Indian assertion that violence is taking place because of Pakistan support.” Replying to a question on the forthcoming Assembly poll in Jammu and Kashmir, he said it was up to the people of the valley to decide whether to participate in the elections or not. “The world has said. Even the USA has said that elections are not a substitute for plebiscite,” Mr Memon claimed.
PTI |
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Pak approves new police law
Islamabad, August 8 The government has decided, in principle, to establish the group to assist the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to counter terrorism and sectarian violence, local daily ‘Dawn’ published today said. The move followed orders from President Pervez Musharraf to modernise the police network at various levels to combat the militant groups, which turned their ire against Pakistan following its decision to join the international community in its fight against terrorism after terror attacks on the USA. Quoting officials of the Interior Ministry, the daily said the SIG to be formed with Rs 110-million budget would initially comprise 50 personnel, including over 35 investigating agents to be drawn from the FIA, federal and provincial police departments and the Intelligence Bureau. They said the new role of the FIA and the SIG was aimed at evolving a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy at the federal level. The SIG would coordinate with all other law enforcement agencies in its crackdown against militant groups. Quoting officials it said SIG agents would focus its efforts on identification and location of the “most wanted” terrorist groups and individuals so that their financial resources could be blocked. These agents would be empowered to arrest and prosecute the terrorists, already named in FIRs, sources said noting that the terrorists had so far taken benefit from the lacunae arising out of the division of responsibilities between law-enforcement and intelligence agencies on functional or regional jurisdiction basis.
PTI |
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‘Greater
security risk’ for minorities Islamabad, August 8 In a strongly worded statement, the HRCP said the attack “highlights the increasing threat to security faced by minorities in the country. The outrageous incident also shows that despite claims to the contrary by the military regime, the threat from militants remains very real across the country”. “The death of six persons in the attack, which was apparently directed by extremist militants at members of the Christian community, also suggests that such killers can strike at any time and at any place.
PTI |
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Arabs will repulse attack on Iraq: Saddam
Baghdad, August 8 Marking the anniversary of the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Saddam said any attack on one Arab country was an attack on the whole Arab nation, and Arabs would emerge victorious. “The forces of evil will carry their coffins on their backs, die in disgraceful failure, taking their schemes back with them, or digging their own grave,” Saddam said. Any invaders would “bring death to themselves” in the Arab world, “including Iraq, the land of the jihad (holy war) and the (Muslim) banner”, he added. In a show of force, thousands of Iraqi volunteers, clad in military fatigues and brandishing assault rifles, paraded in the streets of Baghdad before the speech, vowing to defend Iraq and Saddam to the death. The 65-year-old dictator, dressed in civilian clothes, was defiant but stuck to well-known Iraqi positions. “There is no other choice for those who use threat and aggression but to be repelled even if they were to bring harm to their targets,” he said in a 22-minute taped televised speech to the nation. Saddam called on the UN Security Council to answer a list of questions recently posed by Baghdad, and said the United Nations should honour obligations over trade sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990 after its invasion of Kuwait. ‘’The right way is that the Security Council should reply to the questions raised by Iraq, and should honour its obligations under its own resolutions,’’ he said. He repeated Iraq’s recent calls for further talks on UN demands that arms inspectors be allowed back into Iraq, and on Baghdad’s calls for the lifting of the trade sanctions. “The right course is to respect the security and rights of others, through dealing with others in peace and establishing the obligations required by way of equitable dialogue on the basis of international law and international covenants,’’ he said. His address came a day after Bush said that while Baghdad posed ‘’real threats’’, he would consult with Congress and US allies on how to proceed. Key US allies have been urging the USA not to launch a strike against Iraq in an attempt to oust Saddam. Arab leaders are adamantly opposed to such a move.
Reuters |
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Hundreds
attend Sikh festival in Italy Paris, August 8 Around 1,000 persons participated in the event that was held in Italy for the first time, organisers said. It was also one of the biggest gatherings of the Indian community in Italy. The festival was organised by the Sikh and Punjabi community of Reggio Emillia, a small town located in northern Italy, in the outskirts of Parma, often referred to as the industrial capital of Italy. Italy boasts of one of the largest Punjabi communities in Europe, after that in Britain. Leaders of the community estimate its strength at over 25,000, with most Sikhs in the northern industrial belt of Italy.
IANS |
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Baghdad, August 8
