 |
Thursday,
November 7, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Pervez’s presidency challenged in
SC Assembly session
may be put off Pakistan the nuke proliferator |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
17 killed in
Luxembourg
plane crash USA to submit draft
resolution on Iraq Butler ‘smuggled’ Diana’s
lovers Cover leads to magazine’s closure Brazilians rule catwalks
|
|
Pervez’s presidency challenged in SC Islamabad, November 6 A senior PML(N) leader, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, filed a petition yesterday, asking the apex court to direct Musharraf to quit, as the three-year deadline set for him to relinquish power to an elected government had ended. In his petition filed yesterday, Shah urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take over the office of President as the term of Musharraf as chief executive expired on October 11, 2002, as per the court judgement of 2000. Shah asked the court to “direct President Pervez Musharraf to relinquish the office of president, which should be held by the Chief Justice of Pakistan until it is filled in accordance with the constitution.” The petitioner also questioned the constitutionality of the “fictitious” referendum held by Musharraf in April this year to get himself elected for five years. The Supreme Court, in the run-up to the referendum, had upheld it under the framework of the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) promulgated by Musharraf, but said the PCO would go after the restoration of the Constitution. Referring to the legality of the referendum after the poll, the court, in its judgements, said, “Apparently, these questions are purely academic, hypothetical and presumptive in nature and are not capable of being determined at this juncture.” Shah also requested the apex court to refer the case of conduct of incumbent Chief Election Commissioner Irshad Hasan for supervising “massive rigging” in the referendum that “elected” Musharraf as President with no other candidate in the fray. Hasan Khan was the Supreme Court Chief Justice when the apex court delivered the judgement giving a three-year period for Musharraf in 2002. Giving comparative facts and figures of turnout of the general elections and the referendum, the petitioner questioned the extraordinarily high turnout for the referendum, which he pointed out, was missing in the October 10 general elections. Referring to the delay in holding elections to the Senate, the petitioner pleaded for urgency for the election of the Senate for the purpose of completing the electoral college for the election of the President and declare that the Constitution would stand revived the day the Senate elects its Chairman. Shah also contended that the incorporation of the referendum in the Legal Framework Order (LFO) that contained the constitutional amendments brought in by Musharraf had created a political and constitutional deadlock.
PTI |
|
Assembly session may be put off Islamabad, November 6 However, there was no official comment on the reports that Musharraf would delay the scheduled convening of the new Parliament. Significantly, the Parliament’s inauguration has not been officially notified in the government gazette, and no elected member has received official notification or invitation. The pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Qaide Azam (PML-Q), which appeared to have lost the race to form government due to its failure to secure majority, had appealed to Musharraf to postpone inaugural session of the National Assembly fixed for Friday. The PML-Q, which won the largest number of seats in October 10 elections, sent its plea to the government as the political parties failed to come up with a “credible” alliance to form the government. Parliamentary leader of PML-Q, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, said in a statement last night that the National Assembly session should be postponed. “Through a consultative process with the representatives of major political parties in the National Assembly we have reached a finding that it may not be suitable to convene the National Assembly on Friday,” he said. Pakistan media was full of reports today that the postponement was imminent and a daily Pakistan Observer went to the extent of saying the government has already postponed the session. Meanwhile, Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, the consenus Prime Ministerial candidate of anti-Musharraf parties, has said the session is not being held because “we have neither received any invitation nor has it been notified by the government.”
PTI |
|
Pakistan the nuke proliferator Pakistan today is the most dangerous place on earth in large part because the US Administration does not understand the forces it is dealing with there and has no policy to contain them. This nuclear-armed country is in part ungoverned, in part ungovernable, writes Jim Hoagland in the Washington Post. The news that Pakistan provided the nuclear technology and perhaps uranium to Kim Jong Il’s regime and the discovery that North Korea has been secretly enriching uranium for the nuclear weapons programme it promised to freeze in 1994 demonstrates the dangers of putting faith in a confirmed liar. Pakistan’s role as a clandestine supplier shatters the Bush Administration’s efforts to paint that country as a flawed but well-meaning member of the coalition against terror. Pervez Musharraf’s Pakistan is a base from which nuclear technology, fundamentalist terrorism and life-destroying heroin are spread around the globe. American and French citizens and Christians of any nationality, including Pakistani, are indiscriminately slaughtered by fanatics as occasion arises. The Bush Administration’s response is to protect both the life and reputation of President-for-life Musharraf and pretend that he is moving toward democracy. Huge amounts of American aid pours into Pakistan — even as Washington’s ability to monitor how that money is spent or stolen declines sharply, Hoagland says. This response pushes toward a disaster that Bush officials — and a Congress that has been negligent to cowardly in exercising oversight on Pakistan — will one day protest that they could not have seen coming. The truth will be that they ignored warnings that were in plain sight, as the first Bush Administration did on Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. The second Bush Administration sees the dangers that “axis of evil” members Iraq and North Korea pose. It is fashioning considered, realistic responses to those dangers. But it seems paralyzed by the perceived need to secure Musharraf’s help in fighting Al-Qaida and stabilising Afghanistan. Official Washington will not even tell the truth to or about Musharraf, much less hold him accountable for his lies and subterfuge. The US policy today amounts to giving money to Pakistan, which agrees to take it. This is a country where American diplomats are limited to one-year tours and not allowed to bring dependents. Non-governmental organisations that normally would help the US Agency for International Development gauge how aid money is being spent have closed down out of fear. The remaining AID personnel would take their lives in their hands by insisting on effective monitoring. Elections rigged by Musharraf in his favour were praised extravagantly by State Department spokesman Richard Boucher as “an important milestone in the ongoing transition to democracy.” That praise cannot be applied to the process or to the outcome, which gave new prominence to a fundamentalist Islamic coalition that promptly said it would seek to ban co-education. Rewards rule in all areas: The sanctions on US-Pakistani military-to-military cooperation imposed in 1998 after Pakistan’s nuclear tests were personally lifted last week by Central Command’s Gen Tommy Franks, who attended a joint exercise involving a grand total of 330 troops. This came on October 17, as David Sanger of the New York Times led the way in identifying Pakistan as the source of North Korea’s uranium-enrichment process. A secret barter arrangement was suspected during the Clinton administration. It continued after Musharraf came to power in 1999 and was finally confirmed last summer, US officials report. Pyongyang sent missiles and missile technology to Islamabad in return for nuclear technology. There are strong indications that both nations have helped Iran develop nuclear and missile programmes as well. Hoagland points out that asked about Pakistan’s supplier role, Secretary of State Colin Powell said on television that Musharraf had promised him that Pakistan was not engaged in this trade now. Powell then refused to talk about Pakistan’s past role and would not even explain his silence on it. Talking about the past would have exposed Musharraf’s pattern of lies and evasions, which Powell has increasingly tolerated and covered for as they have become more flagrant. The Secretary knows Musharraf lied publicly when giving pledges last spring to end cross-border terrorism — pledges he has broken. Musharraf even lied about whether President Bush had talked to him about that subject in a September meeting in New York. The past provides no reason to hope that Musharraf is telling the truth about not helping North Korea now, either. He has paid no price for lying to Powell about ending terrorism in Kashmir or about cooperating fully in crushing Al-Qaida. The only consequences for duplicity have been rewards and protection. Why in the world would he suddenly change an approach that is working on every level for him?
ADNI |
|
17 killed in Luxembourg plane crash Luxembourg, November 6 Spokesman Guy Schuller said the twin-engine Fokker 50 plane carrying 19 passengers and three crew members crashed five km from the Grand Duchy’s international airport. “Of the 19 passengers, there are reported to be just a few survivors,” Schuller said. The condition of the survivors was not immediately known. The plane, on a scheduled flight from Berlin-Tempelhof airport, was making its final approach at around 10.15 a.m. when the crash occurred, officials said. A spokesman for Belgium’s defence ministry said Brussels had sent three helicopters to the site of the accident and put a military hospital on alert after neighbouring Luxembourg requested help. Luxair said the plane had been in service since 1991.
Reuters |
|
USA to submit draft
resolution on Iraq United Nations, November 6 France, which had earlier strongly opposed two American
drafts and forced Washington to make changes, is said to be on board, but its diplomats said their final position would be known only after the draft was given to them and Paris took a view on it. The position of Russia and China on the new draft is not known. Diplomats expect a vote late tomorrow or on Friday. Once a
member state submits the draft, it can force vote after 24 hours, but the USA is likely to give time for discussion, with the possibility of making some minor changes.
PTI |
|
Butler ‘smuggled’ Diana’s lovers London, November 6 One of Diana’s boyfriends was a prominent heart surgeon, Hasnat Khan, whom she loved and wanted to marry after her divorce from Prince Charles, but realised such a move would not be possible, the paper said. The newspaper quoted a statement which it said former butler Paul Burrell had given to the police in the run-up to a trial in which he was charged with stealing Diana’s belongings. Burrell was last week spectacularly acquitted after Queen Elizabeth II intervened in the case, confirming that Burrell had told her of his intention to retain some of the princess’s papers for safekeeping. The royal butler has been on the front pages of national newspapers ever since. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has ruled out an independent inquiry into the collapse of the trial of Diana’s butler, Paul Burrell, and absolved Queen Elizabeth of any responsibility for the sensational way it collapsed last week.
AFP, DPA |
|
Cover leads to magazine’s closure Hong Kong, November 6 The semi-nude photo, widely believed to show popular actress Carina Lau, has sparked criticism of the territory’s notoriously aggressive paparazzi and calls for new laws to regulate the media. Eastweek Magazine suspended publication and its owner issued a public apology following a furore. This week the magazine fired most of its 200 employees as it prepared to shut down the Sing Tao Daily News. Eastweek did not return calls seeking comment. The controversial photo showed a half-naked and visibly distressed woman whose eyes and breasts were obscured. The magazine identified the woman only as a “famous semi-retired actress” and said the photo had been taken some 10 years ago, apparently inside a car and against her will.
AP |
|
Brazilians rule catwalks Rio de Janeiro Tomorrow the man who discovered Mann, Winck, and the world’s number one model, Gisele Bundchen, begin a 20-day tour through the agricultural hinterlands of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s southernmost state, looking for new talent. Dilson Stein expects to meet about 8,000 hopefuls from the area that is considered to have the highest concentration of beautiful people in Brazil. Rio Grande do Sul has 6 per cent of Brazil’s population, but between 40 to 50 per cent of its top models. Stein — like Mann, Winck and Bundchen — displays the region’s historical roots in his surname and Aryan features. Rio Grande do Sul is populated largely by descendants of German, Polish and Italian immigrants who arrived at the turn of the 20th century. The races blended to form a physical type tailor-made for modelling. “The mixture means you get these marvellous-looking women,” says Stein. “They are tall with long bones, which is exactly what the market is after.’ They are also predominantly blondes, with blue or green eyes — European-looking compared to most people in Brazil, four in 10 of whom are black. Stein, 37 and himself an ex-model, is from Horizontina, a town of 18,000 near the Argentine border — as is the best known of his protegees, Gisele Bundchen. Nine years ago, when Gisele was a gawky 13-year-old, her mother sent her to one of his modelling sessions to improve her posture. Five years later she was the world’s most famous supermodel. Stein has been running modelling courses in rural Rio Grande do Sul for eight years. The first step after this tour will be to select the best couple of hundred and bus them to Sao Paulo, 20 hours’ drive away and the centre of Brazil’s fashion industry. The country girls will need to be eased through the culture shock — some have never been in lifts before or seen a McDonald’s. Girls — and boys (although the market is much smaller) — from Rio Grande do Sul combine European looks with a Latin American attitude. “They may look like they are from Germany or the Czech Republic,” says Zeca de Abreu, director of Sao Paulo’s Marilyn model agency. “But they have been brought up in Brazil and that shows. Clients really sense this. They think Brazilians are happier and more sensual.” De Abreu says Gisele’s prominence has been a great international advert for Brazilian models. About half his list, he estimates, comes from Rio Grande do Sul. He believes that the state is Brazil’s largest supplier of models because of the `gaucho’ mindset. Their German ancestry and outdoor way of life gives them strong personalities.
The Guardian |
|||||
PLAN TO WRITE OFF DEBT ON TRACK: USA ISLAMABAD: A US official said on Wednesday that Washington was moving forward with an agreement reached earlier this year to write off US $ 1 billion of Pakistan’s debt, saying it was part of an effort to foster long-term improved ties with Islamabad. US Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agriculture Affairs Alan P. Larson said the administration of US President George W. Bush planned to ask the Congress for authorisation in the coming months. “The cancellation of the US $ 1 billion debt is on track,” Larson said after talks with Pakistani finance officials. AP US PRISON RETURNEE REACHES HOME  |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Islamabad, November 6
Video
