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Sunday,
August 11, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Warrants for US mission bombing suspects
Banned group ‘behind’ hospital attack WINDOW ON PAKISTAN |
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Govt accused of ‘pre-poll rigging’
USA for democracy in Pak: Benazir Musharraf
to raise Kashmir issue at UN LETTER FROM NEW YORK
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Warrants for US mission bombing suspects Karachi, August 10 Three leading suspects in the attack — Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Hanif and Mohammad Ashraf — have already been arrested and appeared in an anti-terrorism court amid tight security today. The main suspects and an inspector of Pakistan’s paramilitary Rangers, Waseem Akhtar, were charged with both the June 14 bombing and conspiracy to kill President Pervez Musharraf. ‘’The court today issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of six other people who are absconders in the case,’’ Raza Abidi, a defence lawyer for Imran, told reporters. Abidi said the court had set August 16 as the date for the next preliminary hearing. All the victims in the car bomb attack were Pakistanis. The three main suspects are members of al-Almi, an offshoot of the radical Harkat-ul-Mujahideen organisation. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen has long been on a blacklist of organisations deemed ‘’terrorist’’ by the USA and reportedly has links to Muslim separatists fighting in Kashmir. Two of the accused — Imran and Hanif, the head of the organisation and his deputy respectively — admitted at a news conference last month both to their involvement in the consulate attack and the plot to assassinate Musharraf. They said their targets included U.S. interests in Pakistan, such as fast food chains McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken. But Imran told reporters before the start of today’s hearing that he was not involved. ‘’I am innocent and I have been falsely implicated in these cases...How can I kill my own sisters and brothers?’’ he said. However, he said he was a jihadi (holy warrior) and that he had been to Kashmir and Afghanistan several times. ‘’If I get the opportunity I will go there again.’’ Pakistan abandoned its support for the Taliban in Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks on the USA and threw its weight behind the U.S.-led war against Al-Qaida operatives and Taliban. This incensed Islamic militants who have stepped up attacks on Christian and foreign targets in Pakistan, killing dozens of people. Embassies and foreign companies have scaled back staff after a string of attacks against foreign targets, including a May strike in Karachi that killed 11 French engineers and three Pakistanis.
Reuters |
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Banned group ‘behind’ hospital attack Islamabad, August 10 A senior police official said the militant was a resident of Rawalpindi and belonged to a banned religious organisation, local daily Dawn reported today. The official, however, neither named the organisation to which the slain militant belonged nor identified him by name, the newspaper said, adding that no arrest had been made so far in this connection. The whereabouts of two other assailants who managed to escape were not known yet, the report added, quoting the official. Three female nurses and a militant were killed and 23 others injured in the grenade attack on worshippers coming out from the morning church service in Taxila town. Meanwhile, the police admitted that a breach of security resulted in the attack yesterday. A police constable, who was absent from duty, has been arrested. The newspaper quoted the SSP of the area, Mr Moravat Shah, as saying that police constable, Aslam who was posted at the church, was not present during the attack. The DSP of the area and the SHO of Taxila town have already been transferred for their failure to provide security to the church and the hospital. Bomb disposal experts from the Civil Defence Department, who examined the area along with FBI officials said the hand grenades used in the attack weighed 1.5 pounds each and contained 8 ounces of explosive material.
PTI |
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WINDOW ON PAKISTAN SERIOUS doubts are being expressed about the fairness of the October elections in Pakistan. Few people agree that Gen Pervez Musharraf will allow the electoral exercise to create a situation against his own interests. He can go to any extent for this purpose. One can get an idea about his designs by going through the following
excerpts from a well-researched cover story by Zahid Hussian, carried in July's Newsline magazine: "The ISI's political cell is already preparing the grounds for an engineered election result. According to some reports, the agency is not only trying to cobble together a pro-government political alliance, but is also busy preparing a list of candidates 'who shall be elected.' There are reports that Army officers are also forcing politicians to change their loyalties. Several politicians have confirmed that they have been asked by the ISI to join a newly formed alliance led by Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and Farooq Leghari. "The government has also withdrawn cases of corruption, or allowed to be acquitted by the courts those politicians who are toeing the military line. A case in point is former Frontier Chief Minister, Aftab Sherpao, who returned from London on the assurance that he will be acquitted in half a dozen corruption cases. Sherpao, who is heading a dissident group of the PPP, is now a crucial member of the pro-military political bloc which is being propped up to block the PPP's chances to return as the single largest political party. "There is also a move to co-opt politicians into the provincial Cabinets as part of the plan to rig the polls. Five new ministers have already been inducted in the Sindh Cabinet and other provinces are expected to do the same. None of these preemptive measures, however, will help the government much as the elections will generate their own dynamics. "Even Musharraf's staunchest loyalists agree that in the event of a free and fair election Parliament will most likely be dominated by anti-military groups. Senior government officials admit that Ms Bhutto's party is likely to emerge as the single largest party despite President Musharraf's decision to bar her from politics. In that situation President Musharraf will face serious problems not only to his position but also to the changes in the constitution to be ratified by an elected parliament. Most political observers fear that the military government might try to manipulate the elections, but any such action is bound to fuel public discontent threatening his own survival in power." General Musharraf's critics look at his large-scale constitution amendment programme in this backdrop. The Nation, a respected and popular daily, recently carried a series of articles on the subject. The thinking people in Pakistan are greatly upset by the military regime's plan to virtually rewrite the 1973 constitution for institutionalising the role of the armed forces in the governance of the country. Of course, there are those who want certain measures to prevent the "people's representatives" from plundering Pakistan in future. But very few are prepared to accept the Army as part of the overall system of government. Zaheer Bhatti (July 20) argues: "There is nothing sacrosanct about a parliamentary or presidential form of government, and one can countenance the pluses of both systems to go together. There should be no quarrel with voters' age, an enhanced number of seats for Parliament and the Senate, reserved seats for females and technocrats, elections and registration of political parties, debarring the corrupt and defaulters, reasonable empowerment of the President for checks and balances vis-a-vis the Prime Minister, and the National Security Council as the supreme consultative body. "Beyond that, any constitutional amendments by the present regime ought to be left to the elected Parliament whose prime job it is to legislate and remove any lacuna in the constitution by a two-thirds majority." Shala Mustafa (July 22) says: "Any initiative aiming to change the status quo is sure to threaten many stakes. It is only natural that those whose stakes are in jeopardy will go against it. "The reform package envisages enormous power for political parties. But political parties seem to have no time to appreciate that part of the proposed reform. "Once the party leaderships can swallow the bitter pill of democracy in party structure, they will start seeing the benefits of the proposed reform. Or perhaps new leaderships will have to emerge, for, the current undemocratic structures have perpetuated political dynasties." In his article carried on July 31, Air Marshal Ayaz Ahmed Khan (retd) declares: "Extending the wings of the President and clipping those of the Prime Minister is not the panacea. The right to nominate and dismiss the elected Prime Minister at will is contrary to the norms of parliamentary democracy. All the proposals are to downgrade the Prime Minister's position and prestige. It is suggested that all unconstitutional proposals be withdrawn. The two packages of amendment proposals should be presented to the future Parliament for approval or cancellation. Bulldozed now, their legitimacy will remain suspect and controversial." |
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Govt accused of ‘pre-poll rigging’ Islamabad, August 10 Representatives of the PPP and the PML (N) met Mr John Cushnahan, heading the 174-strong EU delegation, separately and said the government had indulged in “pre-election” rigging by bringing in new laws to exclude former premiers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto from the poll process completely. PML (N) chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, who also met Mr Cushnanhan, in his representation to the EU said his party could not trust the government of President Musharraf to hold fair and impartial elections.
PTI |
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USA for democracy in Pak: Benazir Islamabad, August 10 “It (the USA) had refrained from endorsing President Pervez Musharraf’s fraudulent referendum,” she said in an interview published in the Daily Times today. Ms Bhutto, who lives in self-exile in Britain and the UAE, was optimistic that the USA would support a “credible election process”. She expressed satisfaction over a statement in Islamabad by John Cushnahan, chief observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission, that he would speak out if there were irregularities in the October elections. “I do know that the PPP has an election reform package it has discussed with the General and sent to the Election Commission with little feedback to date. It would be wonderful news to confirm that the EU took up the case of the participation of both Nawaz Sharif and myself.” At the same time Bhutto said: “I plan to return and contest the forthcoming elections. I am unable to provide a precise timetable. Some of the considerations that go into that timetable are out of my hand. The regime keeps changing the rules of the game forcing me to devise different methods to overcome them. I will announce the date as soon as it’s possible to do so, in consultation with my lawyers and my party.” Asked what she would do if the Chief Election Commissioner refused to register the PPP parliamentary group, she declared, “The PPP parliamentarians meet the details of the law as spelt out by the Political Parties Order. It will be registered, inshallah.” To a question whether there was any contact between Sharif and her or between their parties, Bhutto said, “Yes, there are contacts between the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) at the ARD (Alliance for Restoration of Democracy) level.” Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will challenge the new Political Parties Ordinance (PPO) in the Supreme Court next week. The leader in self-exile will challenge the new law in her capacity as the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson and has already engaged prominent jurists to represent her in the apex court, The News quoted party leader Khalid Ahmad Khan Kharal as saying.
IANS, UNI |
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Musharraf to raise Kashmir issue at UN Islamabad, August 10 “In his address to the UN Assembly, scheduled for September 12, the President will raise the issue of Kashmir and border tensions between the two nuclear powers by seeking world community indulgence to avert a nuclear conflict in the subcontinent,” `The News’ quoted a Pakistani official as saying. General Musharraf is scheduled to visit the USA from September 7 to 13 to attend the UN session and participate in a ceremony to commemorate the September 11 terrorist attacks. From the floor of the UN General Assembly, General Musharraf would invite the Indian leadership to resume talks with Pakistan. He would meet US President George W Bush and discuss bilateral, regional and international issues. He would also urge the US President to speed-up diplomatic efforts for troops withdrawal from the India-Pakistan border. He would raise the issue of the promised US defence supplies to Pakistan and draw Mr Bush’s attention towards New Delhi’s arms purchases that the official said had “seriously disturbed the strategic balance in the region”.
UNI |
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LETTER FROM NEW YORK “I
will never agree to the airport terrorism that President Bush has imposed on us as his answer to Osama bin Laden. I would even volunteer to fly a bomber against him if we had any idea of what country he is in. But I am not willing to let fear of Osama bin Laden weaken our civil rights and convert our airports into police-state nightmares.” This outburst from former three-term US senator and Democratic presidential nominee in 1972 George McGovern in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, following his own frustrating experience at airports, aptly sums up the plight of air passengers as a result of the fear and panic generated by the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Weird stories, some reported in the media, and some told by affected individuals, involving air travellers chosen at random being subjected to indignities, have provoked strong reaction from columnists, who have begun to wonder if the Bush administration’s policies in its war against terrorism are not being pursued to absurd lengths. The Washington Post recently reported that Arab Americans in the USA, estimated at three million, are worried that government policies cast suspicion on entire religious and ethnic communities. But the Justice Department asserts that it is not engaged in racial or ethnic profiling and that its war is aimed at terrorists, not Muslims. Four men from New Jersey have recently filed a law suit against American Airlines, alleging that they were removed from a plane in March this year and strip-searched because of their Arabic names. Similar suits have also been filed against some other airlines. According to a report in the New York Post, a Long Island mother is fuming that JFK airport security guards forced her to drink her own breast milk from three bottles in front of other passengers before boarding a flight — to prove she was not carrying dangerous liquid. In an unreported but true incident, a 31-year old American (not of Arab or Asian origin) sporting a goatie beard, searched more than once at JFK Airport, was hauled up after he joked with security men: “Do you think I am carrying a bomb?” His dream of a week-long vacation with his girl friend to Vancouver was shattered, and he was later fined $ 250 for misdemeanour and given 70 hours of community service. He has now shaved off his beard. Come September 11, New York will be commemorating the
anniversary of the WTC attack with sombre ceremonies. “Our intent is to have a day of observances that are simple and powerful, that honour the memories of those we lost that day,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters. The September 11 observances will feature mournful sound of bagpipes, the reading of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and moments of silence, candle light vigils, lighting of an eternal flame and participation by Heads of State who will be here for the UN General Assembly. The once infamous Times Square in New York’s Manhattan, where strip clubs and porno bazaars made it into a “supermarket of sleaze” presents a totally different picture today, thanks to the cleaning up of the area in the last few years. With the closure at the end of July of Peep-o-rama, the last sex shop in 42nd Street, the place today is, as New York Daily News noted, free of the hordes of hookers, drug dealers and con-artists” and instead is “home to Broadway shows in lavishly restored theatres, first-run movie houses, a wax museum, a slew of restaurants, family entertainment from Disney and state-of-the-art office towers. “What has been accomplished is one of the greatest success stories of urban America,” it said in an editorial. |
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