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Thursday,
September 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Tamil Tigers ready for self-determination
USA,
Russia clash over Iraq |
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UN troops under Israeli fire ‘Al-Qaida network in S-E Asia’ |
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| Kabul TV lifts ban
on Indian movies Kabul, September 18 State television in the Afghan capital Kabul was showing Indian movies once again yesterday after a ban was lifted in what was seen a victory for moderates over Islamists within the government. Asians can speak better English, Vaz to Home Secy 12 ultras held
in Karachi
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Tamil Tigers ready for self-determination Pattaya (Thailand), September 18 “The LTTE doesn’t operate in the concept of separate state....We operate with the concept of homeland and self-determination,” Mr Anton Balasingham, chief negotiator for the LTTE told reporters at the end of 12 hours of talks with the Sri Lankan Government here spread over three days. Mr Balasingham said if regional autonomy was rejected, then a fight for “political independence and statehood is only the last resort.” He said the LTTE fighting for a separate state had no relevance. Mr G.L. Peiris, chief negotiator of the Sri Lankan side, said: “We know a separate state is not what their aspirations are about... the government is pleased about it,” adding these aspirations could be fulfilled in one country if “we go about it in the proper way.” The two sides agreed to hold the next round of talks from October 31 to November 3. The third round would be between December 2 to 5 and the fourth between January 6-9. Euphoria and back-patting was evident throughout the press conference between Mr Peiris and Mr Balasingham, each saying that they had enjoyed each others company throughout the talks. The two sides agreed to promptly establish a joint committee to deal with issues relating to high-security zones, with the aim of enabling the return of a larger number of displaced persons to their areas of origin, thereby facilitating the restoration of normalcy, Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen told reporters. A joint task force is also to be set up for humanitarian and reconstruction activities. Mr Balasingham said the LTTE would not disarm at this moment. He said both sides had armies and navies, and there was a stable ceasefire in place. The three-day closed door meetings saw the two sides take up demining, humanitarian and rehabilitation issues. “Economic development is one of the aspects of peace process ,” Mr Peiris said. The two negotiators said the issue of post-interim administration had also been taken up, but said they had not gone into details yet. Meanwhile, Mr Balasingham said India was “fully backing’’ the peace process between LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government. Mr Balasingham said New Delhi was being briefed on every aspect of the peace process by the Sri Lankan Government and the Norwegians, who have been instrumental in getting the two sides to talk peace. The London-based negotiator said India did not want the conflict to continue as it caused “an element of instability in the whole region.’’
PTI
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USA, Russia clash over Iraq United Nations, September 18 “We cannot just take one-and-a-quarter page letter (by Iraq agreeing to re-admit arms inspectors unconditionally) as the end of this matter. We have seen this game before,” US Secretary of State Colin Powell said at a press conference here yesterday. Mr Powell also stressed the need for a tough new resolution by the UN Security Council. But Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who was also present, said he saw no need for such a measure if the inspectors were able to return early. “We don’t see need for any special resolution. All necessary resolutions (are) there,” Mr Ivanov said. All necessary procedures were in place as they were agreed on during preliminary inspections in 1990s, he added. “Whether we can trust this (Iraqi) letter or not, I think that only facts alone can corroborate this,” Mr Ivanov said and emphasised on the need for speedy return of inspectors who have been barred since December, 1998. At the press conference, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to the two leaders to be united on Iraq. “This is the beginning, not an end,” he said. The clash came as Chief UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix met with Iraqi officials to discuss the modalities of return of the inspectors. “We agreed to meet in Vienna within 10 days to finalise the practical arrangements,” Mr Saeed Hasan, head of Iraqi Foreign Ministry’s international organisations department, told reporters. PARIS: Three legislators from France’s right-wing ruling party have arrived home after a solidarity visit to Iraq that had angered French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. The three deputies arrived from Baghdad on Tuesday aboard a French private jet, ending a four-day visit to Iraq, airport sources said. VATICAN CITY: Pope John Paul II today hailed the “goodwill” of Saddam Hussein and invited world leaders to listen to the Iraqi leader. “Over the past few days, after the winds of war which threatened to overwhelm the entire Middle Eastern region, we have received the good news of the possibility of a resumption of collaboration between Iraq and the international community.” The leader of the Roman Catholic Church was speaking to around 7,000 pilgrims during his weekly general audience. The Vatican came out strongly against a possible US-led military action against Iraq last week.
PTI, AFP |
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UN troops under Israeli fire Rafah (Gaza Strip), September 18 Peter Hansen, Commissioner-General of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), was standing at the time on the rubble of Palestinian houses destroyed in Israeli military raids. The group was in Rafah to hand over 97 houses to people left homeless by army demolitions. Meanwhile, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at a bus stop in the Arab-Israeli village of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel on Wednesday, wounding several people, witnesses said.
Reuters |
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‘Al-Qaida network in S-E Asia’ Kuala Lumpur, September 18 “We have cooperated with other countries in intelligence sharing. We have some proof of that,” Admiral N. Yuthavong, Commander of the Thai Armed Forces, said. ISLAMABAD: US and Afghan forces in southern Kandahar province have arrested six Afghan Al-Qaida suspects, an Afghan news agency reported on
Wednesday. They were detained in a joint search for Al-Qaida fugitives on Monday night at Bande Taimur town, 60 km west of Kandahar.
AFP |
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Kabul TV lifts ban on Indian movies Kabul, September 18 Women singing could also be heard again on state radio, after a special media commission appointed by President Hamid Karzai overruled restrictions imposed by the head of Kabul TV and Radio. Engineer Mohammad Ishaq, Kabul TV and Radio chief and a senior figure in the Northern Alliance movement that dominates Mr Karzai’s government, imposed the restrictions without warning last month. He was not immediately available for comment. The removal of the restrictions was seen as a victory for Mr Karzai and Information Minister Sayed Raheen Makhdoom, who had sacked Ishaq’s predecessor, Abdul Hafiz Mansoor, in July after a row over what should be shown on television. But if Kabul’s residents are allowed to listen to women singing on the radio, they still cannot watch them. Images of women singing remain banned on Kabul TV. Ironically, there are no such restrictions in the deeply conservative southern city of Kandahar, once the Taliban’s stronghold.
Reuters |
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Asians can speak better English, Vaz to Home Secy London, September 18 Mr Vaz’s comments set him in confrontation with a minister of his own party. In a strong outburst yesterday, Mr Vaz said Mr Blunkett was making the Asian community a “cheap target”. Mr Blunkett had said in an article in a forthcoming book titled “Reclaiming Britishness” that young immigrants should speak English at home in order to prevent “schizophrenic rifts” between generations. Mr Vaz said Blunkett should come and spend a night in the home of an Asian family in his constituency, Leicester East. “No Asian family in Leicester does not speak English at home,” Mr Vaz said. “In many cases they speak it better than Mr Blunkett himself.” When Mr Blunkett saw how well young Asians speak English, he would regret what he had said, and find out “how wrong he is”, Mr Vaz said. Mr Vaz said in a statement: “If this was a Conservative home secretary he would have been asked to apologise by now. The immigrant community has become a cheap target.” Mr Vaz said: “He has clearly forgotten all excellent work that he did as Education Secretary in relation to mother tongue teaching and this latest statement flies in the face of the excellent work done by Tessa Jowell at culture.” Mr Blunkett claimed that “in as many as 30 per cent of Asian British households, according to the recent citizenship survey, English is not spoken at home.” Several race groups attacked Mr Blunkett for attempting to take government into people’s homes and telling them in which language they should speak. Mr Vaz took the line that Asians speak English often better than the English — a claim borne out by the excellent results that South Asian children have to show for themselves.
IANS |
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12 ultras held
in Karachi
Islamabad, September 18 The militants were taken into custody in several raids across the city by security forces, the state-owned Television said here. One of the militants, is a suspect in connection with suicide bomb attacks in the city in May and on June 14 that killed 26 people in total.
PTI |
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REBEL GUNMEN MASSACRE 183 FRENCH WAR CRIMINAL FREED MAN EXECUTED FOR RAPING, KILLING WOMAN MUBARAK NAMES SON FOR KEY PARTY POST 100-YR-OLD WOMAN FINED FOR GAMBLING |
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