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Saturday,
September 7, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Nominations of
Imran, Shahbaz okayed
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18 held for bid on Karzai’s life
USA, UK turn heat on Iraq Qaida confessions on 9/11 attacks to be telecast
Bias against US Muslims persists Punjabi second to English in UK
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Nominations of Imran, Shahbaz okayed Islamabad, September 6 The election tribunal in Lahore yesterday allowed Mr Shahbaz Sharif to contest the October poll, over-ruling the objections filed by Islamabad-based journalist Shahid Orakzai, who stated that Mr Shahbaz Sharif backed a mob attack on the Supreme Court in 1998, when Mr Nawaz Sharif was the Prime Minister. When Orakzai persisted with his arguments, one of the judges of the tribunal that consisted of two high court judges, said “Don’t try to dictate the court,” local daily The News reported today. The papers of Mr Nawaz Sharif’s wife Kulsoom have also been accepted. She will contest the poll from Lahore. Officials had earlier said they would not allow Mr Shahbaz Sharif, nominated as leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (N), to return to Pakistan to contest the poll. The tribunal also approved the nomination of Mr Imran Khan, leader of the Tehrik-i-Insaaf, to contest the poll from his hometown Mian Wali in Punjab, when his graduation certificate issued by Oxford University was produced by his counsel. The poll officials had earlier rejected Mr Khan’s papers, saying he had not submitted his original degree certificate. Mr Khan is contesting from three other constituencies in Punjab and the NWFP. The tribunal, however rejected the nominations of three former MPs of the PML for having attacked the Lahore High Court over a dispute on the judgement in a case. LAHORE: Election Appellate Tribunal of the Lahore High Court has dismissed the objection petitions filed against PML (N) President Shahbaz Sharif and his brother, Nawaz Sharif (since withdrawn from the contest), thus paving their way, at this stage, for election contest on October 10. The Lahore returning officer had accepted the nomination papers of Shahbaz Sharif for PP-141 and 142 and the NA-119 Lahore and that of Nawaz Sharif for NA-121 Lahore. Questioning the acceptance, a journalist Shahid Orakzai had moved four appeals to establish the involvement of the brothers in November 1997 Supreme Court building storming case. The appellant contended that the case of both the brothers fell within the definition of disqualification given under Article 63(1)g of the constitution which has now been integrated with General Election Ordinance 2002. While dismissing the appeals, the tribunal of Mr Justice Mian Najamuz Zaman and Mr Justice Pervez Ahmad observed that neither of the two was a convict in that case nor was he presented as contemner before the court at the relevant time.
PTI, ANI |
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USA not to prejudge poll Washington, September 6 A top State Department official declined to assess whether Pervez Musharraf’s latest moves to secure his power base and the sidelining of two political opponents undercut his promise to restore democracy. “We are not going to prejudge this election,” said Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca, at a forum to mark one year since the September 11 attacks sponsored by the US Institute for Peace. “There are a lot of pre-election things going on.
A return to democracy has been a priority of the USA and is still a priority today.”
AFP |
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18 held for bid on Karzai’s life Kabul, September 6 “We think it is the work of the Taliban. We cannot say any more since a criminal investigation is taking place,” spokesman Khalid Pashtun said. He said that among the 18 taken into custody was commander Sayed Rasoul, who had been in charge of security at Agha’s former headquarters. “Rasoul with 17 of his men have been arrested and are in jail right now.” Yesterday’s attack came just hours after a huge car bomb ripped through a crowded street in central Kabul, killing at least 15 persons and wounding 20, according to the police in the Capital. Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah blamed both attacks on groups linked to the Al-Qaida network, which the USA says was behind the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York. WASHINGTON: The USA rallied in support of Afghanistan’s President after an assassination attempt and pledged to keep helping rebuild the country. “We’re not leaving,” President George W. Bush said in Kentucky yesterday, where he pitched for Republican political contributions. “We want to help democracy flourish in that region.” ISLAMABAD: Pakistan today strongly condemned the “cowardly” attempt on the life of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and expressed relief at his survival. “The government of Pakistan strongly condemns the cowardly attempt on the life of President Karzai,” a foreign ministry statement said. “It is a matter of great relief that, by the grace of Almighty Allah, no harm came to his person.” Meanwhile, Afghan Interior Minister Taj Mohammad Wardak said on Friday that his ministry had arrested a suspect in connection with Thursday’s deadly car bomb explosion in the capital. “The suspect is an Afghan and the driver of the taxi. The investigation is going on. He has not said anything yet to indicate that he had any link with the explosions,” Mr Wardak said. Reuters, AP |
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USA, UK turn heat on Iraq South Bend (Indiana), September 6 The remarks by the British premier, so far the only world leader firmly in Bush’s camp on Iraq, came as the two countries staged what was described as their biggest raid on an Iraqi target in four years. “We must anticipate problems before they occur,” Bush said here yesterday as he concluded a fundraising trip for Republican candidates to the House of Representatives. “We must deal with threats to our security today, before it can be too late,” he said, stressing that he took “very seriously” the threat that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was building an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. In telephone conversations planned for today with his French, Russian and Chinese counterparts, as well as a face-to-face meeting tomorrow with Blair, Bush said he will stress that the world’s “worst leaders” should not have access to the “worst weapons.” In a BBC interview to be screened on Sunday, excerpts of which were released today, Blair said he was very reluctant ever to get into military action, “but there are some times in which it is inevitable.” Asked if he recognised that the US-British “special relationship” involves being prepared to “pay the blood price,” Blair said: “Yes. What is important though is that at moments of crisis they (the US) don’t need to know simply that you are giving general expressions of support and sympathy. Meanwhile U.S. congressional leaders on Friday said President Bush had to present more evidence to support his claim that Iraq presented an immediate threat to the country before they could agree to any attack. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, told NBC television’s ‘Today’ show that the first closed-door briefing for lawmakers with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld this week was only a start. “Some of our questions were answered but there are a lot more out there that need to be addressed before we can make any conclusive decision on what needs to be done,” Daschle said. Daschle, Minority Leader Trent Lott, House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert, and House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (Rep) appeared on morning news shows before joining colleagues for a special joint session of Congress in New York marking the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Bush said this week he looked forward to making his case to Congress, the American public and world leaders that the USA had a duty to take action against Iraq. Gephardt and Hastert told CNN that Thursday’s briefing presented some new information but did not fundamentally change the threatening picture they already had of the situation. Lawmakers said making a detailed case and strategy for an attack and building support for it both at home and abroad would be key to the success of any military mission. “We know that they have weapons of mass destruction ... We need to make that case to the American people and to our friends and allies around the world,” Hastert told NBC. “The bottom line is that we have to have this debate.” |
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Qaida confessions on 9/11 attacks to be telecast Dubai, September 6 A Jazeera official identified one of the men as Yemen-born Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, a former roommate of Mohamed Atta, one of the 19 hijackers of the aircraft flown into US landmarks. The other man, Khaled al-Sheikh Mohammad, appears on a US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) website list of most-wanted “terrorists’’. The website does not link him to the Al-Qaida. Shaibah is not on the FBI most-wanted list. In the first part of a documentary aired last night, the Qatar-based channel, noted for its footage of Bin Laden, said the two men were interviewed in Karachi, Pakistan, but did not say when. “In the second part of this documentary, there will be the first direct confession as to how the Al-Qaida planned and executed the September 11 (attacks),’’ Yosri Fouda, the journalist who prepared the documentary, said. The second part will be aired next Thursday. The interviews were arranged by an Al-Qaida liaison officer, identified by the channel as Abu Bakr. It gave no further details about the interview. The Jazeera documentary, titled “Top Secret”, showed still pictures it identified as being of Ramzi and Mohammad, but it did not show their faces in what appeared to be footage from the interviews. It showed the bare foot of a man clad in traditional Pakistani robes sitting on the floor in a room with Fouda, and the back of the head and part of the profile of a man with a black beard and dark complexion.
Reuters |
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Bias against US Muslims persists American Muslims took a strong stand against terrorism in the year since the September 11 terrorist attacks, but they continue to be subject, though on a lesser scale, to harassment, violence and other discriminatory acts, according to a report just released by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “The events of 9/11 marked a turning point for the American Muslim community. It is not yet clear whether the voices of inter-faith tolerance will win out over those preaching anti-Muslim prejudice,” says Dr Mohamed Nimer, the author of the report. The comprehensive document outlines condemnations of the terrorist attacks by national Muslim leaders, Islamic scholars and local religious institutions and discusses other issues, including the backlash against Muslims and the role of anti-Muslim rhetoric in promoting hate and bigotry. According to the report, the September 11 attacks were followed by a dramatic rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes. CAIR received 1,717 reports of harassment, violence and other discriminatory acts in the first six months. Although violent acts have dropped sharply, CAIR has logged more than 325 complaints in the second six-month period after the attacks — a 30 per cent increase over the same period prior to September 11, 2001. The report mentions a most recent case of anti-Muslim hate crime in which an 18-year old man raped a 15-year old girl inside a drug store in California, while making anti-Muslim statements. |
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Punjabi second to English in UK London, September 6 It could so easily have been Welsh, a language native to Britain, if not to England, for many centuries. But before a battery of VIPs at the launch of the British wing of the World Punjabi Organisation on Thursday, no one rose to challenge the claim that Punjabi is next only to English in England. Mike O’Brien, minister in the Foreign Office, went out of his way to be generous to the language and its speakers. “Punjabi is one of the most important languages in Britain,” he said. “It is the second most spoken language in Britain, and it is so important for us to get our Punjabi right.” O’Brien shared his dinner table with a powerful Punjabi contingent by way of S.S. Dhindsa, Indian Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Tarlochan Singh, Vice-Chairman of the Minorities Commission, former cricketer Bishen Singh Bedi, Kuldip Nayar, MP, a former High Commissioner to London, and actor and Lok Sabha member Raj Babbar. Tarlochan Singh told O’Brien and the 400 others gathered for the launch at the fancy Dorchester Hotel that the influence of Punjabi and Punjabis in Britain was only right. “Don’t forget that we gave our blood for the protection of democracy in Britain during the two world wars,” he said. “And if in return they are doing us a few favours here, they are too few.” The message went home at least to Om Prakash Chautala, Chief Minister of Haryana, who announced his Punjabi roots and delivered a speech in Punjabi. “Britain has made Punjabi its second language,” Chautala said. “So has Haryana.”
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