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Saturday,
October 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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‘Pak gave N-equipment to N. Korea’ ‘India may intervene if Islamists get nukes’
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India opposes unilateral action on Iraq
USA, Russia welcome troops withdrawal |
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Prosecute Singhal, says Amnesty Pak man charged with abuse of wife
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‘Pak gave N-equipment to N. Korea’ New York, October 18 The equipment, which may include gas centrifuges used to create weapons-grade uranium, appears to have been part of a “barter deal” beginning in the late 1990s, in which North Korea supplied Pakistan with the missiles, the officials told the New York Times. “What you have here is a perfect meeting of interests — the North Koreans had what the Pakistanis needed, and the Pakistanis had a way for Kim Jong Il to restart a nuclear programme we had stopped,” said an official familiar with the intelligence. The newspaper quoted a Pakistan Embassy spokesman Asad Hayauddin as saying that it was “absolutely incorrect” to accuse Pakistan of providing nuclear weapons technology to North Korea. “We have never had an accident or leak or any export of fissile material or nuclear technology or knowledge” he said. The White House yesterday said it would not discuss Pakistan’s role or any other intelligence information, the newspaper reported. The trade between Pakistan and North Korea appears to have occurred around 1997, roughly two years before Gen Pervez Musharraf took power in a bloodless coup. However, the relationship appears to have continued after General Musharraf became President, and there is some evidence that a commercial relationship extended beyond September 11 terror attacks on the USA, the daily said. Although it is not clear when North Korea received the equipment from Pakistan, officials estimated that Pyongyang’s highly enriched uranium project started around 1997-1998 — roughly the same time when Pakistan tested the missiles it received from North Korea. The suspected deal between Pakistan and North Korea, the daily said, underscored the enormous diplomatic complexity of the administration’s task in trying to disarm North Korea. In Beijing, two US diplomats, Mr James A. Kelly and Mr John R. Bolton, pressed Chinese officials to use all their diplomatic and economic leverage to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme. The subject is expected to dominate a meeting next week between President George W. Bush — who, a spokesman said today, “believes this is troubling and sobering news” — and President Jiang Zemin of China. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was quoted as saying, “Here is a case in North Korea where weapons have proliferated and put at risk our interests and the interests of two of our great allies, Japan and South Korea. It might make our case more strong in Iraq.”
PTI |
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‘India may intervene if Islamists get nukes’ Washington, October 18 “The nightmare scenario of the next few years is that American and Allied military operations in South or Southwest Asia will end up severely destabilising the Pakistani regime. Whether due to a coup by a more pro-radical Islamic faction within the military — or something close to outright civil war — the reliability of central control of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal will be diminished,” said the study “Transforming America’s Military,” published by the National Defence University. “In these circumstances, there would be the distinct prospect of Indian military intervention (with possible Israeli assistance), and the prospect of a major regional war in which the use of nuclear weapons could not be precluded,” said the study written by Mr Peter Wilson, a senior political specialist at RAND, and Mr Richard D Sokolsky, a Distinguished Research Fellow in the Institute for National Strategic Studies at National Defence University. The study described India as “an important nuclear-armed ally of the USA” and Pakistan “a very fragile ally”. India has become an “important nuclear-armed ally of the USA, providing diplomatic and material support for Operation Enduring Freedom. The US rapprochement with India is consistent with the US low profile, long-term containment or hedging strategy aimed at China,” Mr Wilson and Mr Sokolsky said. “Pakistan has become a vital but very fragile ally in the war against Al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan,” they noted.
PTI |
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India opposes unilateral action on Iraq United Nations, October 18 Participating in a debate on Iraq in the UN, India’s Ambassador V.K. Nambiar said yesterday that the international community’s desire for Baghdad’s compliance with the UN resolution on weapons inspection in Iraq did not justify any such unilateral action. “Undermining Iraq’s territorial integrity could have “unforeseen and destructive geopolitical implications which extend beyond the region,” Mr Nambiar said adding that it was important to explore all possible alternatives that could help avoid recourse to military action. But he said India would support it if the Security Council decided to lay down fresh guidelines for weapons inspectors, while referring to modifications being made in a proposed US draft resolution to win the support of Russia and France.
PTI |
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USA, Russia welcome troops withdrawal Washington, October 18 White House spokesman Scott Mcclellan said India’s decision to withdraw troops had invited a reciprocal gesture from Pakistan which announced a similar move to pull back some of its forces. “So these are very positive developments to reduce tensions and hopefully create an atmosphere conducive to dialogue between the two nations, “the spokesman said. MOSCOW: Russia has lauded India and Pakistan for the decision to withdraw some of their troops from the border and urged the two countries to restart a dialogue. Welcoming the reciprocal gesture by the two nations to pull back troops from combat positions along the international border, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Thursday that he hoped that the move would be complemented by direct talks.
UNI |
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Prosecute
Singhal, says Amnesty London, October 18 “Investigations to establish
Mr Singhal’s responsibilities in relation to the reported statements
should be initiated as a matter of urgency and appropriate action,
including possible prosecution, should be taken accordingly,” the
global human rights body said in a statement here today. Amnesty
said it was alarmed at the repeated inflammatory statements of Mr
Singhal about the violence against the Muslims in Gujarat. “The
organisation fears for the safety of many thousands of vulnerable
people, should further violence be incited by the repeated statements,”
it said. Amnesty said it wrote to the Indian authorities concerned
on September 16, drawing attention to Mr Singhal’s statement of
September 3, but had not been notified of any investigation initiated
since then. PTI |
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Pak man charged with abuse of wife Washington, October 18 The defendant has pleaded not guilty to all charges and instead pointed the finger right back at his wife. Last week, in a Rochester Hills court, the defendant listened as the judge read off the 11 counts of wife abuse he has been charged with, news reports said. Prosecutors say he sexually tortured his wife of three weeks by, among other things, putting out cigarettes and dropping hot candle wax on her bare skin. He also cut her, raped her with foreign objects, and demanded that she go back with him to his homeland of Pakistan, according to prosecutors. A preliminary examination is scheduled for later this month. If convicted of these charge, the man faces life in prison.
UNI |
PAK RAISES J AND K IN UN BENAZIR SUMMONS PARTY LEADERS VAJAPAYEE'S DECISION WELCOMED |
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