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Sunday,
September 1, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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ARD to hold meeting Pervez discusses J&K development with Qayyum USA says violence in J&K up Court seeks tight security for 3 ultras |
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India asks USA to ratify Kyoto Protocol
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1,000 Bhutto supporters held
Karachi, August 31 Dozens of spontaneous demonstrations broke out across south-eastern Sindh province in the wake of Bhutto’s disqualification yesterday to run in October’s election, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) representative Aijaz Durrani said. “In Badin in Sindh province, about 200 km southeast of Karachi, our supporters tried to block a national highway. About 15 persons were arrested after the police baton-charged the blockade,” he said. The arrests could not be independently confirmed immediately. More than 200 PPP activists today took to the streets Ratto Dero, Bhutto’s ancestral village in Sindh province. Wearing black armbands and chanting slogans against President Pervez Musharraf, the marchers blocked a road leading to the main commercial centre in what witnesses said was a peaceful protest. “This is our token protest. We are waiting for instructions from the party leadership for any future course of action,” local PPP secretary general Musa Abro said. “If asked, we will go for a complete strike.” Ratto Dero: Earlier, about 200 persons from the PPP had on Saturday taken to the streets of this small town to protest against the government’s rejection of former Premier Benazir Bhutto’s nomination for the October poll. Local election officer Akhlaq Hussain Ladak on Friday declared Ms Bhutto intelligible to contest the October elections after the scrutiny of her nomination papers filed by the PPP on behalf of its self-exiled leader. “She has been convicted by the anti-graft court (of absconding), therefore she is not qualified to contest the elections,” Ladak told a courtroom at Ratto Dero. AFP
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Sharif’s kin allowed to contest poll
Islamabad, August 31 Officials in the eastern city of Lahore approved the nomination papers of Shahbaz Sharif and Kalsum Nawaz, who are running for the same National Assembly seat. The two had received the nod from election officials in Lahore for another seat on Thursday, when officials also approved Nawaz Sharif’s nomination papers for a seat. Lahore officials will review Nawaz Sharif’s bid for a second seat tomorrow. The approval came despite a deal Sharif made with the government that neither he nor any of his family members would return from exile in Saudi Arabia until 2010. Government officials have said they will not allow him to run in the elections. AF |
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ARD to hold meeting
Islamabad, August 31 The meeting, called for September 5, will also take up the issue of alleged pre-poll rigging by the government, The Dawn reported today. A delegation of ard leaders is also slated to meet the ambassadors from the European Union countries on September 5 to apprise them of the alleged pre-poll rigging by the government. To be led by Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, the delegation will comprise PPP president makhdoom amin fahim, pml(n) chairman Raja Zafarul Haq and ARD Deputy Information Secretary Munir Ahmed Khan. Meanwhile, the 14 party conglomerate is discussing seat adjustment to give a tough fight to the pro-government candidates. Though there has been no agreement on seat sharing so far, leaders of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (ppp) and the Pakistan Muslim League (N) will continue their parleys. According to sources, the ppp favours adjustment on all seats, as a partial agreement, it believes, will not serve any useful purpose. UNI |
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Pervez discusses J&K development with Qayyum
Islamabad, August 31 The talks were held yesterday specially in the light of Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah’s visit to New Delhi and stand taken by the Hurriyat Conference to hold “unconditional” talks with India’s Kashmir Committee, headed by Ram Jethmalani. After the meeting, Qayyum, a former President and Prime Minister of the PoK, said General Musharraf backed Hurriyat’s reported stand to boycott the Jammu and Kashmir poll. Qayyum, who would also hold talks with Lisa Curtis — senior Advisor to US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca — as she is in Pakistan after her visit to India, told PTI that he welcomed the stand taken by the Hurriyat and Shabir Shah to talk to the Indian Kashmir Committee. “They should talk. Talks are part of exercise to sort out differences and avoid conflict,” he said. Qayyum said he spoke to Shabir Shah, who is currently in New Delhi, over phone today. He said he found Shabir Shah, leader of the Democratic Freedom Party, disappointed over the reluctance of the Indian Government to initiate talks with Kashmiri leaders. Qayyum said the Indian Government should postpone the elections and find a negotiated settlement to the Kashmir issue. Qayyum said the Pakistani Kashmir Committee planned to send its senior member Ajmal Khatak to India to hold talks with the Indian committee and Indian leaders. When pointed out that he had been making statements to send a delegation to India but it had not materialised so far, he said this time he “really” wants to send Khatak provided the Indian Government grants him a visa. About Indian Kashmir Committee, he said “It is good that a Kashmir Committee too has come up on the Indian side.” Commenting on the composition of the Indian Committee, he said it was good that the committee headed by Jethmalani remained unofficial as it was not constrained by constitutional limitations and remained free of official formalities in holding talks with Kashmiri leaders.
PTI |
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USA says violence in J&K up
Washington, August 31 “..It is clear that the incidents of violence are on the upswing,” US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in an interview to the PBS Television yesterday. “The cross-border incursions are up from the end of June,” he said in reply to a question whether infiltration into India had increased recently. Asked if Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was doing everything possible to stop terrorism in Kashmir, Mr Armitage said “Only President Musharraf and his colleagues know for sure, but we think that he is making some efforts.” On the issue of Pakistani support to terror attack in India, the American diplomat said “...I don’t want to get into what we know and what we don’t know. “...However, there are ‘jehadi’ who are outside the control of the Pakistani authority. There are also ‘jehadi’ who were already existent in Kashmir. They don’t need to cross the Line of Control to cause trouble.” He said a bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan was possible if the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were allowed to be peaceful. “They (India) have said that if the elections could proceed free of violence from Pakistan, then they would entertain a dialogue. President Musharraf, for his part, told me that his government’s position would was to condemn violence during any electoral season,” Mr Armitage said. PTI
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Court seeks tight security for 3 ultras Karachi, August 31 Mohammed Imran, Mohammed Hanif and Mohammed Ashraf, all affiliated withoutlawed Islamic militant groups, are charged with conspiracy, murder and terrorism in the June 14 car-bombing outside the US consulate in Karachi that killed 12 Pakistanis. Judge Ali Maqbool Rizvi delayed the trial until Thursday because his bodyguards did not show up to escort him to the high-security prison where the proceedings are taking place, said special prosecutor Sarfraz Khan Tanoli. The judge demanded better and more consistent protection. Rizvi postponed the trial last Wednesday as well, again because his bodyguards did not show up for work and because of changes in the prosecution team. At the time, a defence lawyer and government sources said the government was replacing the lone prosecutor with a three-member team headed by Raja Quereshi, who was also the chief prosecutor in the trial of the kidnappers of slain Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl. A senior security official in Karachi, Ghulam Mehmood Dogar, said today that Rizvi was adequately protected. Dogar said he was not aware of any threats against Rizvi. AP
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India asks USA to ratify Kyoto Protocol
Johannesburg, August 31 Environment and Forests Minister T.R. Baalu told leaders at the ongoing World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) that India was concerned about the looming threat of climate change and informed them about the international conference on climate change COP8) to be held in October in New Delhi. During the Ministerial Plenary on contentious issues which went into midnight last night, the global consequences of climate change were extensively discussed and it was felt that the Johannesburg Summit should adequately reflect on this issue. During the discussion on the content and language to be used in the Declaration relating to climate change and ratification of Kyoto Protocol, major world blocks, including both the developed and the developing countries, emphasised the need for ratification of the Protocol on emission of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The European Union, G-77 and other major countries such as Japan, Norway, also called upon the countries who have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol to do so at the earliest to avert the grave consequences of climate change. The European Union said that all countries should be brought on board the Kyoto Protocol and extended support to G-77’s proposal in this regard. The USA stated that though they were against signing the Kyoto Protocol they shared the common goal of combating climate change and the approaches could be different. Meanwhile, thousands of protesters denounced everything from AIDS to poverty and pollution at the Earth Summit today as South Africa deployed the police in force to protect delegates. About 3,000 demonstrators, many dancing and singing, gathered in the Alexandra slum to march to the marble-lined convention centre where delegates at the August 26-September 4 summit are seeking ways to safeguard the planet and cut poverty. PTI, Reuters
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PoWs’ exchange deferred
Colombo, August 31 Cabinet spokesman and Constitutional Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris told reporters that a state television announcement a few days ago that the government would lift the ban only temporarily on September 6 was wrong. State-run Rupavahini Corporation had also said the government would review the de-proscription every month and would clamp it again if the rebels walked out of talks after it began on September 16 in Thailand. “There is no provision in law for such a monthly review,” Peiris said. In any case, he added, the government had the right to re-impose the ban “if circumstances warranted it.” The LTTE has made it clear that any temporary de-proscription will be unacceptable to it, as it wants to participate in talks only as the ‘sole legitimate representative of the Tamils of Sri Lanka’. Peiris did not disclose the exact legal instrument that would be used to revoke the ban, a pre-condition laid down by the guerrilla group for agreeing to join negotiations, but pointed out that the present ban was based on a notification issued under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Meanwhile, legal impediment has delayed a move between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE to exchange prisoners as a confidence-building measure ahead of next month’s peace talks. Peiris said today that the prisoners’ exchange planned for tomorrow on the military frontline north of Vavuniya town had been deferred by about 10 days as the consent of the courts was needed in respect of some of the detainees to be released. The LTTE has said it will release all the seven soldiers in its custody as ‘PoW’ in exchange for 23 Tamil detainees. However, the government has not disclosed the number of prisoners it will release. Sri Lanka will announce it is open for business after two decades of war at the same time the government sits down to talk peace with Tamil Tiger rebels next month, a senior Cabinet Minister said today. The government will use the talks that start on September 16 to launch efforts around the world to attract investment and aid to the island, Peiris told a weekly Cabinet news conference. “The very next day the Prime Minister will preside over a high-profile investment forum meeting in New York, and Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, is taking the initiative in that matter,’’ he said. PTI, Reuters
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B’ desh
Hindus celebrate Janmashtami
Dhaka, August 31 Greeting the one-and-a-half crore Hindu community, Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia said Bangladesh had been a place for different religions and called for tolerance and communal harmony. She claimed that the people of Bangladesh were “God fearing, but not communal” and said people of all religions had been living here in peace and amity. A public holiday has been declared in celebration of the festivity. Persecution of Hindus has seen an increase after the BNP-led collision government took over the office. Senior Minister and Secretary General of the ruling BNP Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan assured Hindu leaders at a Janmashtami function here yesterday that the government would support renovation and preservation of Hindu temples in different parts of the country. He promised early resolution of land and other disputes involving the historic Dhakeshwari and Ramna Kali temples.
PTI |
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Afghan
court backs ban by media Kabul, August 31 “We have no opposition to the watching of films, but we totally oppose the idea of half-naked scenes or romantic films being broadcast and women’s songs being aired,” Mr Fazl Ahmad Manawi, deputy head of the Supreme Court, told Reuters. While Mr Manawi sought to play down the political implications of the decision, speculation is growing of a tussle between the Northern Alliance, with its more conservative interpretation of Islam, and the more moderate stance of President Hamid Karzai and his Culture and Information Minister.
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