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Wednesday,
September 4, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Sharif to back Benazir party
candidates ‘Secret army of Mujahideen’
formed ‘Don’t single out Islam for violence’ Iraq ready to defuse
crisis with UN help |
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Earth Summit: Canada throws a
spanner No emergency during Nepal
poll
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Sharif to back Benazir party candidates Islamabad, September 3 As the scrutiny of nominations for the October 10 poll ended last night, the papers of over a dozen top party leaders from different parts of the country were rejected on one ground or the other, the PPPP spokesman, Mr Faratullah Babar, said here today. However, the party had managed to field back-up candidates in most of the constituencies where the rejections had occurred save in Larkana, the home town of Ms Bhutto, where the Sindh province poll officials have rejected the nomination papers of the back-up candidate too, he said. Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party has appealed to the United Nations against the disqualification of party chairperson Benzair Bhutto from the October poll, urging it to take notice of the military government’s nefarious design. “The Election Commission appeared to be lenient and gave clearance to all the applicants. Their attitude, however, changed the moment Benazir Bhutto’s call was made... extra police was called in and that tiny room... suddenly became surrounded by a heavy contingent of police...’’ Fauzia Wahab, coordinator of the party’s human rights desk, said in a letter to Dato’ Param Cumaraswamy, the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. The PPPP, meanwhile, got a shot in the arm with Mr Sharif expressing his readiness to support its government after the elections, the local daily Dawn reported today. Mr Sharif, who announced his decision to withdraw from the poll race despite the acceptance of his papers in solidarity with Ms Bhutto, said the PML(N) would support the PPPP to form the government if the parties could together win a simple majority, the paper said today. Mr Sharif has sent “signals” in this regard, the paper reported quoting leaders of the 15-member umbrella group, the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy in which Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif’s parties were prominent members. It said the PML(N) cooperation would be forthcoming regardless of whether the two parties succeeded in forging electoral adjustments or not. Commenting on the report, Mr Babar said it was too early to comment but certainly the news report was “encouraging.” Mr Babar said all rejected candidates, including Ms Bhutto who has been shown the door in all three constituencies from where she filed her papers would file appeal petitions before the special election tribunals beginning from today. PTI |
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‘Secret army of Mujahideen’ formed Islamabad, September 3 The hitherto unknown group also vows to avenge the deaths of Afghans killed in what the US refers to as “friendly fire” mishaps in the search for Al-Qaida and Taliban. Although similar pamphlets have appeared from time to time since the USA went to war in Afghanistan, this one is unusual because it is written in a language relatively few Afghans speak and even fewer can read. This suggests that the document could have been written for the several thousand Arabs, most of them suspected Al-Qaida members. The authors of the rambling six-page leaflet did not refer to themselves as an offshoot of either the Al-Qaida or Taliban but said that their group had three goals: “To avenge the innocent martyrs of the brutal US bombing of Afghanistan; to continue jihad until the last foreign soldier is expelled from Afghanistan; and to defend the (Muslim) faith and freedom to establish an Islamic order.” At the US military headquarters in
Bagram, north of Kabul, US spokesman Col Roger King said he was unaware of the group and refused to discuss threats, if any, which American forces have received. AP |
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‘Don’t single out Islam for violence’ Distinguished American academic Prof Richard Falk has reminded westerners prone to singling out Islam for violence that patterns of extremism and intolerance have erupted in all civilisational settings at various points in history with disastrous results for the more benign hopes and aspirations of humanity. “We in the West need only recall the Spanish Inquisition or the widespread burning of women as witches, periodic bouts of violent anti-Semitism, the religious wars of Europe to realise that Judeo-Christian tradition is no stranger to religious extremism, and its lethal enactment,” Professor Falk says in an article in the latest issue of “Spirituality and Reality” published by the New York-based Friends for a New Civilisation, which aims at bringing tolerant spiritual values to global issues. According to Professor Falk, who has written the article in the context of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the West is far from innocent, especially the USA as a political actor, although it is important to appreciate that the victims of the attacks were innocent. He explains that the Islamic resentment against the USA arises for many reasons: the humiliation of the Palestinians, the seeming role in sustaining Israeli domination, the penetration of the Islamic world, the exploitation of Arab oil wealth, the support given to cruel and corrupt regimes, and the maintenance of sanctions against Iraq in the face of evidence of widespread human suffering. Professor Falk notes that the trauma of the attacks left Americans shaken, scared and angry, and generally disabled them from self-scrutiny. Wrath was turned against the terrorist perpetrators, but indirectly as well, against the sort of religious indoctrination that produced such behaviour. In summing up his analysis, Professor Falk concludes that September 11 “demonstrates that extremist religion can be a menace to our hopes and dreams, as well as to our minimal security. But a deeper reading of September 11 suggests the failure of inclusive religion to engage itself far more vigorously in overcoming injustice and working towards a political ethos of non-violence.” Professor Falk, who has been Professor of International Law and Practice Emeritus at Princeton University for 40 years, adds: “Instead of September 11 sounding the death knell of the global role of religion, it might yet provide the impetus for a religious and spiritual awakening that is so urgently needed to avoid the pitfalls of both an oppressive economic globalisation and a scientific momentum that moves our human narrative ever closer to a time of ultimate reckoning.” |
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Iraq ready to defuse
crisis with UN help Johannesburg, September 3 Speaking after talks with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the Earth Summit, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz repeated an invitation to U.S. politicians to visit Iraq to check for themselves whether it had weapons of mass destruction. “Let them tell us and the world that their concerns are genuine and that they are not using them as a pretext to attack Iraq — if those concerns are genuine we can find a solution to that,’’ Aziz told reporters. “We invited the Americans and the British to come. If they come for a special mission they are welcome because that is what we want them to do. But if they send people who will drag their feet for years without reaching a conclusion as they did for 7-1/2 years, that’s not going to work.’’ Iraq’s invitation to U.S. politicians with no technical expertise to make weapons checks has been ridiculed in the West as a ploy to avoid international monitoring of its armaments. Aziz’s remarks suggested he defined a ‘’special mission’’ as the proposed visit by U.S. politicians. Aziz said a comprehensive solution would involve tackling what he called U.S. threats to Iraq, U.S. and British air patrols over the north and south of Iraq, the lifting of sanctions and U.S. threats to change Iraq’s political system. “As I told the (U.N.) Secretary- General, if anybody can have a magic solution, so that all these issues are being dealt with together, equitably and reasonably, we are ready to find such a solution and we are ready to cooperate with the United Nations,’’ Aziz said, adding the two men promised to stay in touch. Annan said in a statement the meeting was part of continuing talks between Baghdad and the United Nations on the inspectors, who left Baghdad in 1998 after seven years of monitoring. “This meeting was part of the ongoing dialogue between U.N. and Iraqi authorities aimed at agreeing in the return of inspectors to Iraq, which in turn will lead to a comprehensive solution including the lifting of sanctions,’’ he said. Moscow: UN arms inspectors may return to Iraq if the UN sanctions crippling the Iraqi economy are lifted, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Naji Sabri insisted during his visit here. “First of all the sanctions which reduced the majority of Iraqi population to misery must be lifted. Respect for our country’s national security is also important, as well as ensuring its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Sabri told Russia’s ORT channel today. Baghdad was also “most concerned by the constant threat” of US and British air attacks. Reuters,
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Earth Summit: Canada throws a spanner Johannesburg, September 3 Delegates were confident an unforeseen obstacle raised by Canada, which is backed by the EU, about a previously agreed text on health-care would be overcome at a vote later. Canada wanted the words “and in conformity with all human rights and fundamental freedoms” linked to a text on health care to avoid condoning practices like female genital mutilation in Third World countries. “If it’s not (included) the Johannesburg text will be a very bad day for women,” said Ms Mary Robinson, UN human rights chief. In a move likely to please environmentalists, Russia said on Tuesday it expected to ratify the Kyoto pact on global warming soon, a move that would virtually assure the treaty is implemented. China said it had ratified the deal. The action plan that will crown the 10-day World Summit on Sustainable Development has fallen far short of the ambitious blueprint envisioned by many governments and green groups. The question of how binding the final agreement is depends on a political declaration that also needs to be hammered out. The biggest hurdle facing the accord was removed when the EU dropped its insistence on setting targets to boost the use of renewable energy sources, in what was widely viewed as a victory for the USA and OPEC oil-exporting states. “With the exception of the one issue that Canada is going to raise on human rights, the negotiations are over,” said one senior Canadian Government official. Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said Moscow may ratify the Kyoto Protocol this year. Russian ratification would, due a complex weighting system, virtually ensure the treaty on reducing greenhouse gas emissions could be implemented despite its rejection by the biggest air polluter, the USA. Although not bound by Kyoto because it is a developing country, China, one of the world’s biggest polluters, said it had ratified the pact. Ratification of Kyoto might appease environmentalists angry over an energy deal that agreed to a “substantial increase” in the use of renewable energy like solar and wind power, but stopped short of setting any clear global targets.
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No emergency during Nepal poll Kathmandu, September 3 “There will be no emergency after the filing of nomination papers,” Mr Deuba said here. Regarding imposition of the state of emergency before the filing of nomination papers, Mr Deuba said the decision would be taken only after discussions with political parties. In a statement issued after he returned from Thailand and meeting European Union leaders, Mr Deuba said the meeting with leaders, including EU president Romano Prodi and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was fruitful. “I had a very fruitful meeting with the leaders of the EU, Belgium and Thailand during my visit,” Mr Deuba said. “I discussed about the cooperation to crush the Maoist violence and expanding cooperation in other areas,” he said. He was scheduled to attend the UN-sponsored sustainable development summit being held in Johannesburg, but returned home in view of the prevailing situation in the country, a senior minister said. The Maoist insurgents exploded bombs and attacked private and government installations almost daily since last week, after the state of emergency expired after nine months. Security personnel defused two bombs in Kathmandu earlier today, but there was no major incident in the country, officials added.
UNI
Kathmandu, September 3 A total of 50 persons were affected by this disease and among them nine have died, so far, Nepali daily Kantipur reported on Tuesday quoting Bardia district hospital sources.
UNI |
2 MORE N-POWER PLANTS PLANNED ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will build two more nuclear power plants “in the coming years”, a senior official of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) said on Tuesday. PAEC Chairman Pervez But told journalists that the new plants would be in addition to the existing nuclear power plants at Karachi and Chashma with capacity to produce 600 megawatt and 300 megawatt of electricity, respectively. Even the low sales price of 3.75 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity would enable PAEC to recover the operating cost and the government investment in the new nuclear power plants, he said. DPA KASHMIR PANEL TO SEND EMISSARY BIZARRE KILLING OF WOMAN  |
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Johannesburg, September 3
