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Friday,
October 11, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Pervez pledges to hand
over power by Nov 1 Exit poll puts
PPPP ahead in
Punjab, Sindh
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Pak poll deeply flawed: HRW New York, October 10 On the eve of Pakistan’s parliamentary polls, Human Rights Watch has described the entire election process as deeply flawed and stacked against the democratic rule. J&K poll victory
for democracy: PM Iraqi offer to USA on weapon
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Al-Qaida may plan another attack: FBI
Man shot, search for killer
on 8 killed in
Lanka clash US visa fees raised
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Pervez pledges to hand
over power by Nov 1 Islamabad, October 10 “We have worked out everything,” he told state-run Pakistan Television shortly after voting. “It is a legal process. We will go by this process...and finally, roughly by November 1, I will hand over chief executive authority to a new Prime Minister.” General Musharraf, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999, will remain as President after the election, with the power to sack Parliament. He says he will continue to supervise the Prime Minister to ensure his reforms continue and to prevent corruption. But he told PTV the Prime Minister would be given room to act. “The continuity of the reforms is the work of the Prime Minister,” he said. “He should continue the reforms, and even if he wants to make some changes he has full authority. “No reform is final. If he thinks it can be improved, by all means he should improve this,” he added. The elections are supposed to restore democratic civilian rule in Pakistan three years after the coup, but critics say Musharraf has manipulated the vote in his favour to ensure a compliant 342-seat National Assembly. Opinion polls showed a pro-Musharraf faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, the PML(QA), was running neck and neck with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, one of Musharraf’s fiercest critics. General Musharraf said he would respect the results. “The decision of the people is final — whatever happens today, whichever party comes (first)... we will accept it,” he added.
Reuters |
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Exit poll puts
PPPP ahead in
Punjab, Sindh Islamabad, October 10 The poll, conducted by Pattan Development Organisation, had surveyed 3,420 voters in 50 constituencies around the country as they left voting stations by 1.30 pm IST. Organisers cautioned against reading too much into the findings. It showed PPPP ahead with almost 30 per cent of the vote in Punjab, the most populous province, ahead of the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) with 27 per cent. In the next biggest province, Sindh, PPP was also well ahead with 38 pc of the vote, with the regionally based Muttahida National Movement (MQM) scoring around 12 pc and PML(QA) a meagre i pc. An alliance of religious parties, which has based their campaign partly around their opposition to President Musharraf’s role in the U.S.-led war on terror, took an early lead in North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan.
Reuters |
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Pak poll deeply flawed: HRW New York, October 10 Pakistanis will head to the poll today for the first general elections since President Pervez Musharraf’s 1999 coup, with opinion polls indicating a tight race between banned ex-Premier Benazir Bhutto’s party and a new pro-government group. “In the three years since the coup, Pakistan has witnessed a consolidation of military power rather than a transition to democracy,” said Brad Adams, Executive Director in Asia Division of Human Rights Watch. “Pakistan’s international partners can not ignore this fact any longer. They need to insist on progress toward democracy in Pakistan,” Adams said yesterday. In a background paper, the New York-based watchdog accused Pakistan’s military government of employing a variety of legal and political tactics to control the process and outcome of the elections. The paper highlighted constitutional amendments giving President Musharraf virtually unfettered powers over Parliament and the government, and the revision of electoral procedures that effectively eliminate the leaders of the two major political parties from participating in the elections. Critics say the elections will not bring an end to the rule by the military, which has already governed Pakistan for 27 years of its 55-year history.
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J&K poll victory for democracy: PM Copenhagen, October 10 The statement recording his swift reaction was issued an hour before his meetings with the Presidents of the European Commission and of the European Union. The point is not which party or candidate won the mandate, Mr Vajpayee stressed. The process showed that the people voted “against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and Pakistan’s anti-India propaganda,” he clarified. It was the victory of “India’s unity, integrity, democracy and a vote for Kashmiriat”. He also lauded the fact that the elections were free and fair as promised by his government and praised the people of Kashmir for “braving the reign of terror unleashed by Pakistan-backed terrorist outfits and disregarding the call for boycott of the poll.” Even at the EU summit here, the business delegations from the EU countries have expressed their appreciation — in their individual meetings with captains of Indian industry — of the manner in which India’s political establishment has conducted elections in Kashmir and withstood cross-border terrorism, as well as pushed ahead with economic reforms. They also admired the support the political atmosphere in India gave to the trade sector. Whereas the MNCs operating in India were impatient with the slow progress of economic reforms as a result of the government’s apparent preoccupation with Kashmir and India-Pakistan issues, the view was not shared by the multinationals of Europe. The Jammu and Kashmir elections did not figure in the speeches made here by Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha, Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie and even the Prime Minister.
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Iraqi offer to USA on weapon sites Baghdad, October 10 “The American administration are invited to inspect these (weapons) sites,” said Abdul Tawab Mullah Hawaish, Deputy Prime Minister and minister responsible for Iraq’s weapons programmes. Mr Hawaish, speaking at a news conference in Baghdad, also said Iraq was not producing weapons of mass destruction and declared that the US claims that it was producing them were false. “As I am responsible for the Iraqi weapons programmes I confirm here that we have no weapons of mass destruction and we have no intention to produce them,” Mr Hawaish said. Iraq would teach the USA an “unforgettable lesson” if it launched a military action to oust President Saddam Hussein. “If the Americans commit a new foolish action against Iraq, we will teach them an unforgettable lesson,” Mr Hawaish said. US President George W. Bush wants congressional backing for unilateral action if the Security Council does not impose an inspection regime that it considers tough enough to uncover any Iraqi weapons programmes. Meanwhile four Iraqis were killed and 10 injured today as the US and British warplanes bombed Nineveh province, 400 km north of Baghdad, an Iraqi military spokesman said. A total of around 30,000 Iraqis died in July and August as a result of the UN sanctions imposed on their country for its 1990 invasion of Iraq, Health Minister U.M.Mubarak has said. WASHINGTON: The USA would like to see Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein tried before a Special War Crimes Tribunal similar to the one created following the Bosnian War, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer has said. Asked what the USA would do with Saddam if they got their hands on him, Mr Fleischer said yesterday: “If you remember what was going on with Serbia, it would be the international community” that would set up “a special tribunal.”
Reuters, AFP |
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Al-Qaida may plan another attack: FBI Washington, October 10 In issuing the warning, the bureau cited statements by Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his top aide Ayman al-Zawahiri broadcast earlier this week by the Qatar-based, Arabic satellite television channel Al-Jazeera. “The statements suggest that an attack may have been approved, while the specific timing is left to the operatives in the field,” the FBI said late last night in an advisory sent to the state and local law enforcement agencies. The bureau said that due to a lack of specific information about the time or place, the suspected attack will not lead to a change in the homeland security-threat level, which for the time being will remain at “yellow,” or elevated. But it urged the local authorities to take additional steps “to detect, disrupt, deter and defend against potential attacks against our nation’s critical infrastructure and installations at home and abroad.” On Sunday, Al-Jazeera played a brief recorded statement by a man it said was Bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 terror attacks. The threat was followed later in the week by remarks by Zawahari, the Egyptian-born strategist of the group, who warned that Al-Qaida was preparing fresh strikes against the USA and its allies, notably France and Germany. SYDNEY: A terrorism expert who has interviewed captured members of the Al-Qaida network said in his remarks broadcast on Thursday that the group had trained to carry out attacks on Australia and may have already dispatched a cell of fighters to the country. “A number of Al-Qaida members were tasked to enter Australia for the purpose of destroying targets inside Australia,” Rohan Gunaratna told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
AFP |
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Man shot, search for killer on Washington, October 10 Prince William County (Virginia) and police spokeswoman Sgt Kim Chinn said a man was shot to death about 12.18 a.m. on Wednesday. She said the police have not confirmed his identity. The shooting occurred at a gas station close to the Inter-state Highway 66, which runs into Washington, about 30 km to the east. Officials said they did not know whether the Manassas shooting was connected to the sniper attacks, but the police were seeking a man driving a black Honda who may be a witness. Despite nearly 200 policemen on the chase and a reward of $ 237,000 the US authorities say they are unsure about being anywhere close to finding a serial sniper who has killed six persons. One of the sniper’s six victims was Indian immigrant Prem Kumar Walekar. The sniper had also wounded two others in Washington and its suburbs since he first began targeting people last week. The police have discerned no pattern among the victims, but investigators looking for the sniper reportedly found a tarot card saying “Dear policeman, I am God”, near a bullet casing outside the Bowie middle school where a 13-year-old boy was critically wounded on Monday. The taunting message was left on the card known as the Death card. The tarot card, used in fortune telling, emerged on Wednesday as a potential clue in the hunt for the sniper terrorising Washington’s suburbs.
AFP, IANS |
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8 killed in
Lanka clash Colombo, October 10 The protesters stormed the Kanchanakudah camp of the STF in Ampara district last night, rained stones on it and burnt a resting hut inside the camp, STF officials said.
PTI |
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US visa fees raised Washington, October 10 Effective from November 1, the fee for non-immigrant visas will rise from $ 65 to $ 100 , or 53.8 per cent, it said, citing a “critical revenue shortfall.”
AFP |
10 HELD FOR VANDALISING HINDU TEMPLE TECHNOCRAT IS MOROCCAN PM INCUMBENT LEADER IS TRINIDAD, TOBAGO PM SUICIDE BOMBER STRIKES NEAR TEL AVIV |
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Baghdad, October 10
