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Tuesday,
October 29, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Chemical weapon used in hostage crisis: expert
‘Shift’
sniper trial from Maryland 30 Indians in
US poll fray |
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No end to water scarcity Storms
batter Europe |
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PoW issue: Gurkhas leave for UK
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Chemical weapon used in hostage crisis: expert Moscow, October 28 “This was a simple chemical weapon, non-lethal kind developed in Cold War days,” doctor of chemistry and chief of Russia’s Chemical Security Union Lev Fedorov told Moscow Radio Echo yesterday. Normally, the weapon “could temporarily neutralise scores of enemy troops, and its effects should have been reversible,” but that could hardly apply when dealing with civilians whose health was not necessarily good, Mr Fedorov said. In addition, the hostages were weakened as they were deprived of food for days, and the weapon’s effects were further exacerbated, he added. Nevertheless, it was “due to our toxicologists’ lack of professionalism” that the storming troops were apparently unaware of what such a concentration of gas would do to hostages, he charged. The hostages should have been supplied with antidote as soon as they were rescued, and if the mortality rate was this high despite the antidote use, it would indicate that the gas concentration was extremely high, he explained. However, Mr Fedorov admitted that there was probably no better way of bowing out of the explosive situation. “It was either to clash with the terrorists head on or try to outwit them by using chemical weapons. They chose the second way,” he shrugged. So far 115 hostages died because of the gas used in the operation, Moscow Chief Medical Officer Andrei Seltsovsky said yesterday. However, he suggested that the toll could rise further, with 145 persons in intensive care, 45 of whom were listed in critical condition, suffering from the after-effects of the powerful gas. Moscow chief anaesthetist Yevgeny Yevdokimov described the gas as a “psychotropic” substance normally used as a general anaesthetic. In high doses, it changes the basic functions of the body, possibly leading to a loss of consciousness and impairing breathing and blood circulation, he added. So far the gas used was not officially named, prompting the doctors to complain that they did not know how to treat the ailing because they had not been told what gas had been used. More than 800 persons had been held hostage since Wednesday by a gang of dynamite-strapped Chechen militants who stormed into the theatre during an evening performance of a popular musical and threatened to blow up the building.
AFP |
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‘Shift’ sniper trial from Maryland Rockville (US), October 28 A Justice Department official suggested yesterday that Maryland should not be the first to try the case and the top elected official in Maryland’s Montgomery County, where six were slain, urged the prosecutors to work together to choose the strongest venue. Federal officials and those from the states of Maryland, Virginia and Alabama are trying to decide where John Allen Muhammad (41) and John Lee Malvo (17) should be tried first for the string of sniper shootings that left 10 dead and three wounded from October 2 to their arrest last Thursday. “They need to present a unified front to the public and say: “Here’s how we’re going to handle this,” and wherever the case is strongest with the stiffest penalties, that’s where they need to go,” Montgomery County Executive Douglas Duncan told Associated Press. The two were to be charged in Virginia, where three of the killings took place. The suspects already face multiple murder charges in Maryland, and murder charges in Alabama unrelated to the sniper shootings. They also could be charged with federal extortion and murder counts that could bring the death penalty. Maryland “comes in dead last” in terms of the strength of its law on the death penalty, said a Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity. A 17-year-old would be eligible for the death penalty in Virginia and Alabama, but not in Maryland.
AP |
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30 Indians in
US poll fray Washington, October 28 Of the four in the fray for Congress, Venkat Challa from North Carolina is the lone Indian American who is trying his luck for the US Senate The remaining four — Ayesha F. Nariman from New York, Stuart Johnson and Syed R. Mahmood, both from California — are in the fray for the House of Representatives. Challa and Nariman are nominees of the Democratic Party while the Republican Party has fielded Johnson and Mahmood. “To have 30 candidates in one year is amazing,” says Varun Nikore, founder of the Indian American Leadership Incubator (IALI) that keeps track of the growing involvement of people of Indian origin in US politics. “What is interesting,” he points out, “is last year we had 11 candidates only from New Jersey and New York — one state and one city. This time we have some 30 candidates spread all over the country.” After Dilip Singh Saund, who won the House seat in 1952 from California, no Indian American has made it to the US Congress. D.C. Amarsinghe from Virginia, who is a native of Sri Lanka, is contesting for the House on the ticket of the Green Party that has so far been unrepresented in the US Congress. At present, three Indian Americans — Kumar Barve in Maryland, Satveer Chaudhary in Minnesota and Upendra Chivukula in New Jersey — are members of their respective state assemblies. This time as many as 11 Indian Americans are in the run for state legislatures from both the Democratic and Republican parties. They include D. Nanjundappa from California, Shawn Aranha from Illinois and Swati Dandeker from Iowa. Rahul Mahajan, who recently got a doctorate degree in science, is in the gubernatorial race in Texas, the office held by George Bush before becoming the president. Mahajan has been fielded by the Green Party. Besides, 13 other Indian Americans are running for local bodies, including school boards. “If you look at ethnic groups, the Irish, the Germans, it took them a generation or two to figure out the system and get involved politically. It is now our turn,” says Nikore. The population of Indian Americans in the US is about 1.7 million.
IANS |
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MMA gives up hardline stance Islamabad, October 28 The Muthahida Majlis Amal (MMA) nominee for the post of Prime Minister, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, has said he is ready to work with General Musharraf if he continued as President. “We will practically show that we can work together,” he told reporters in Lahore yesterday, stating that it was necessary to adopt a flexible approach on constitutional amendments and Islamisation. Stating that the MMA’s six parties won a popular mandate to review the 29 constitutional amendments brought in by President Musharraf, he said they would take “realities” into account and stressed it was not up to one person to amend the Constitution. “Parliament has come into existence that will analyse which amendments are the need of the hour and will approve them and which are against the democratic spirit and will re-fashion or reject them altogether,” he said. About expulsion of US troops from Pakistani airbases, Mr Rehman said, “We have made our position very clear that we can root out terrorism on our own and we do not need anybody’s help... as for whether the Americans stay or leave our airbases, you should ask them.” Warning that any government formed without the MMA would not last long, Mr Rehman said the religious parties were more closer to pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) as compared with the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto-backed Pakistan People’s Party parliamentarians on the issue of the formation of the government. He claimed that a stable government could be formed only if the PML-Q joined hands with the PPP or the MMA.
PTI |
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No end to water scarcity IT would take only a moderate worsening in the global water policy to bring about a genuine water crisis with resultant threats to the global food supply, further environmental damage, and ongoing health risks for the hundreds of millions of people lacking access to clean water, a new expert report has warned. The report by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute released recently says if governments continue to cut spending on crop research, technology and infrastructure, while failing to implement institutional and management reforms, global grain production will drop by 10 per cent over business as usual levels, equivalent to losing the entire annual grain crop of India. According to the report, if current trends continue or worsen by 2025, the world will experience annual losses of at least 130 million metric tonnes of food production — twice the current annual wheat crop. It predicts that by 2025 water demand will be 50 per cent greater than in 1995. The report says “excessive diversions” of water flows and overdraft of groundwater have already caused environmental damage in many regions of the world and competition for the resource among households, industry and agriculture. It says that because of accelerated pumping, after 2010 key acquifers in northern and northwestern India, northern China, West Asia and North Africa will begin to fall. Dr Joachim Von Braun, Director-General of the IFPRI, notes that currently, more than one billion persons around the world do not have access to a safe water supply, and adequate sanitation is even less available. According to Dr Peter Hazell, Director of Environment and Production Technology at the IFPRI, although water subsidies are commonplace in developing countries, they tend to benefit relatively wealthy people. “Unless we change the policies and priorities, in 20 years, there would not be enough water for cities, households, the environment, or growing food,” says Dr Mark Rosegrant, lead author of the report and senior research fellow at the IFPRI. “Water is not like oil. There is no substitute. If we continue to take it for granted, much of the earth is going to run short of water or food, or both.” The IFPRI seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty. |
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Storms batter Europe Berlin, October 28 Violent gusts up to 180 km per hour left a trail of scattered trees, smashed cars and damaged buildings from Poland to Britain. Thousands of homes without electricity were left in the dark, while Polish trains stood still after tracks were broken and covered in debris. Roads were slowly being cleared, but officials said flights were cancelled in several major European airports, including London Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and Amsterdam’s Schiphol hub. In Amsterdam, too, the roof of the central train station collapsed under the force of the storm. Britain announced seven deaths, all but one from trees knocked down by winds whipped up yesterday to nearly 160 km per hour.
AFP |
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US diplomat shot in Jordan Amman, October 28 The assailant fled, a security official said. A western diplomat said the assailant fired a few shots before escaping after the shooting in an affluent part of the city. “There were a number of shots,” one diplomat said. Jordan is a major US ally in the West Asia, supporting Washington’s policies in the region.
Reuters |
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PoW issue: Gurkhas leave for UK Kathmandu, October 28 The Gurkha Army Ex-servicemen’s Organisation (GAESO) is seeking $ 15,400 dollars for each of the 500 Gurkhas who were held prisoner by the Japanese. The case will be heard on October 31 and November 1. “We are fighting against the British Defence Ministry at the London High Court for compensation to each of the 500 Gurkhas (or to their widows) held prisoners of war by the Japanese during the Second World War,” GAESO Legal Adviser Gopal Shivakoti Chintan said. “The British Government... claims that the former British Gurkhas cannot be provided with compensation,” said Litigation Committee President Padam Bahadur Gurung. “This British attitude towards these Gurkha prisoners of war has seriously affected them and the widows of those who have already died. “This situation has greatly hurt the feelings of the proud and freedom-loving Nepalese,” Mr Gurung said. The GAESO delegation includes Captain Pahalman Gurung, 82, and Hukum Singh Pun, 85, who were both imprisoned by the Japanese. “I was kept as a PoW by the Japanese for four and a half years,” Mr Pun said. “We fought against the Japanese bravely with our “Khukuis” (Nepali knives) but our battalion was finally overcome by them and we were taken as prisoners of war between 1941 and 1945. “In the battle, many Japanese and our brothers were killed. But after the war, the British Government sent us back without pay or pension,” he said.
AFP |
PAKISTANI RELEASED 6 KILLED IN MISHAP |
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