W O R L D

Hardliners may join pro-military coalition
Islamabad, November 12
Pakistan’s main pro-military party and Islamic conservatives said today that they had narrowed differences that had prevented them from forming a coalition for the return of a civilian government in the country.

Parties to support Pervez if he quits
Islamabad, November 12
As efforts continued to break the stalemate over the government formation in Pakistan, hardline religious parties have firmly told President Pervez Musharraf that they would support him in any future government if he quit his post as the Army Chief and abrogated constitutional amendments.

Zardari freed on parole for 8 hours
Karachi, Pakistan, November 12
Mr Asif Ali Zardari, jailed husband of self-exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was released on parole today in Pakistan, allowing him to attend his mother’s funeral who died at a Karachi hospital, officials said.

Nawabzada Nasrullah (R), head of the anti-military Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), shakes hands with Hafiz Hussein Ahmed (2nd L) and Abdul Ghafoor Haidari (L), leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six hardline Islamic parties, at a reception hosted by Nasrullah in Islamabad on Tuesday. Pakistan’s main pro-military party and Islamic conservatives said on Tuesday they had narrowed differences that have prevented them forming a coalition to return the country to civilian government. — Reuters

Check deaths due to hunger: report
THE world is now richer than ever before and has adequate food to feed the masses. Yet, hunger and malnutrition still cause early deaths. Every seven seconds, a child under the age of 10 dies due to the direct or indirect effects of hunger.

Protests over Kasi’s execution
Washington, November 12
This week’s scheduled execution of a Pakistani convicted of murder in the USA has drawn protests in Pakistan and warnings from Washington of retaliatory attacks against US interests.

35 killed in US storms New York, November 12 Deadly tornadoes and fierce thunderstorms swept across more than dozen states in the USA, killing at least 35 people, leaving over 200 injured or missing and reducing many neighbourhoods to shambles. Rescue workers sifted through the wreckage and pulled survivors in heavy rain.
Bob Rosenberg, of Twinsburg, Ohio, stands in his backyard and views what use to be his home on Monday, after a tornado struck the area. Rosenberg and his pregnant wife, and a 23-month-old daughter, were in the home when it collapsed and were trapped for 30 minutes before being rescued. — Reuters photo

Affair with Indian costs officer dear London, November 12 A British immigration officer has been suspended, pending an inquiry into the charges that he wooed an Indian woman seeking a visa and work permit and fathered her baby. A Home Office spokeswoman said Paul Margison, 37, has been put under suspension last night and an investigation launched into his alleged relationship with 29-year-old Rekha Taneja of Jalandhar.

Hardliners may join pro-military coalition

Islamabad, November 12
Pakistan’s main pro-military party and Islamic conservatives said today that they had narrowed differences that had prevented them from forming a coalition for the return of a civilian government in the country.

Officials from the pro-military Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alliance of hardline Islamic groups met late yesterday to finalise how to deal with the constitutional changes made by President Pervez Musharraf before the country’s October 10 election.

“We have made good progress and if this document is adopted by our leadership then it would also help in the formation of a government,’’ senior Islamic alliance official Liaquat Baluch told Reuters.

Muslim League power broker Shujaat Hussain said a coalition was possible between his party and the Islamic alliance following their “positive talks’’.

Mr Baluch declined to divulge the details of the proposed agreement, but said his alliance would be flexible on the constitutional amendments, which had tightened President Musharraf’s grip on power even after the formation of an elected government.

President Musharraf had met the Islamic alliance’s vice-president, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, yesterday to discuss efforts to form what would be Pakistan’s first civilian government since the General seized power in a coup three years ago.

After the meeting Mr Ahmed had stated that the Islamic alliance was willing to back General Musharraf as President if he quit the military and abandoned the constitutional amendments.

There was no word on President Musharraf’s response but it would seem unlikely he would accept such conditions even to break the deadlock. Reuters

Parties to support Pervez if he quits

Islamabad, November 12
As efforts continued to break the stalemate over the government formation in Pakistan, hardline religious parties have firmly told President Pervez Musharraf that they would support him in any future government if he quit his post as the Army Chief and abrogated constitutional amendments.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad, leader of the six religious parties alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), conveyed their stand to General Musharraf during a two-hour meeting here last night.

He said he had told General Musharraf to convene the national Assembly without further delay, so that elections of the Prime Minister and the Speaker were held, and issues relating to the supremacy of Parliament discussed on the floor of the House.

Ahmad said the MMA would not accept General Musharraf’s Presidency unless he resigned as the Chief of the Army Staff and withdrew the constitutional amendments, including the Legal Framework Order (LFO) which give him extraordinary powers.

Meanwhile, Federal Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider has said in view of the deepening crisis, General Musharraf himself may step in and broker a deal with the political parties. PTI

Zardari freed on parole for 8 hours

Karachi, Pakistan, November 12
Mr Asif Ali Zardari, jailed husband of self-exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was released on parole today in Pakistan, allowing him to attend his mother’s funeral who died at a Karachi hospital, officials said.

“He (Asif Zardari) was released on a temporary parole of eight hours to attend his mother’s funeral. However, police security would remain with him,’’ a Sindh Government official said.

Bilquis Zardari died in Karachi after a long illness, family and hospital sources said today.

The government had moved Mr Asif Zardari last week from Rawalpindi to Karachi and lodged him in the same hospital due to his mother’s serious condition.

Mr Zardari was allowed to meet his ailing mother in the intensive care unit of the hospital. Bilquis Zardari, 70, was in critical condition at Ziauddin Hospital for several days. DPA

Check deaths due to hunger: report
A. Balu

THE world is now richer than ever before and has adequate food to feed the masses. Yet, hunger and malnutrition still cause early deaths. Every seven seconds, a child under the age of 10 dies due to the direct or indirect effects of hunger.

This grim picture has been presented at the United Nations by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Mr Jean Ziegler, who, in a report to the General Assembly’s Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural), said: “Anyone dying from hunger was dying from murder.”

Mr Ziegler said the right to food was a right protected by the international law, therefore governments had a legal obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food.

The Special Rapporteur cited the “neo-liberal” policy of the Bretten Woods institutions as an “obstacle” to the realisation of the right to food. He dismissed as “absolutely false” their claim that free trade and liberalisation would bring about the end of poverty and hunger.

Mr Ziegler noted that the disappointing conclusion of the World Food Summit was that little action had been taken to meet the commitment to check the number of victims of hunger by 2015. He said the international cooperation was fundamental, and the primary obligation to realise the right to food rested with the national governments. Access to land was fundamental, and agrarian reforms must be a key part of the government strategies aimed at reducing hunger.

Pointing out that out of the 1.2 billion poor people in the world, who lived on less than a dollar a day, 75 per cent were rural people, Mr Ziegler said agrarian reform, when put into place. increased the nutritional values of the population, as demonstrated in China, Cuba, Japan, Republic of Korea and Thailand. However, where the agrarian reforms had not taken place, the figures of malnutrition and death from hunger were catastrophic.

The Special Rapporteur came in for a sharp attack by the US representative, who felt that Mr Ziegler had used his office to challenge the food offered by the American people to avert the scourge of famine in South Africa and had encouraged governments to deny the use of bio-tech foods. He added that by ignoring both science and the considered policies of the UN, Mr Zeigler bore the responsibility for placing millions in greater peril

Mr Ziegler denied that he had at any time cast doubt on the extraordinary efforts of the USA, but went on to say that some African leaders had objected to America’s provision of genetically modified food.

Protests over Kasi’s execution

Washington, November 12
This week’s scheduled execution of a Pakistani convicted of murder in the USA has drawn protests in Pakistan and warnings from Washington of retaliatory attacks against US interests.

Yesterday, several hundred Islamists and nationalists in Pakistan protested the Thursday’s scheduled execution of Mir Aimal Kasi, who was convicted of killing two Central Intelligence Agency employees and wounding three other people in a 1993 shooting spree outside CIA headquarters.

The demonstrators in central Pakistan warned of “a dangerous reaction’’ five days after the US State Department issued a worldwide warning that Kasi’s execution by lethal injection might provoke retaliatory strikes against US interests.

Kasi, 38, fled to Pakistan a day after the shootings and was arrested there in 1997 by US agents in a sting operation after a friend betrayed him. US agents said he confessed to the shooting spree on the flight back to the USA.

His transportation to the USA in the absence of an extradition treaty with Pakistan was criticised as illegal and provoked protests in the country. Reuters

35 killed in US storms

New York, November 12
Deadly tornadoes and fierce thunderstorms swept across more than dozen states in the USA, killing at least 35 people, leaving over 200 injured or missing and reducing many neighbourhoods to shambles.

Rescue workers sifted through the wreckage and pulled survivors in heavy rain as dazed survivors looked for their relatives, friends and tried to retrieve whatever they could from rubbles of their homes. Officials say the toll could rise as the rescue workers reach communities cut off by the storms.

The rare weather phenomenon occurred yesterday when unusually warm weather combined with cold from Canada and about 70 deadly tornadoes lashed the states in South, East and Midwest of the USA.

These were the deadliest storms since the death of 44 people in Oklahoma and Kansas by tornadoes in May 1999.

The hardest hit was reported to be Tennessee where more than 16 people died and 55 injured. Another 10 were reported killed in Alabama and five in Ohio.

The states which suffered heavy damage included Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. Destruction was also reported from cities and towns thousands of kilometers apart with houses reduced to rubble.

Thousands in the region were without electricity as the storms downed the power lines. PTI

Affair with Indian costs officer dear

London, November 12
A British immigration officer has been suspended, pending an inquiry into the charges that he wooed an Indian woman seeking a visa and work permit and fathered her baby. A Home Office spokeswoman said Paul Margison, 37, has been put under suspension last night and an investigation launched into his alleged relationship with 29-year-old Rekha Taneja of Jalandhar.

According to a report in The Sun, Rekha came to the UK in 1997 following an arranged marriage to an Indian in Birmingham. She was issued a one-year visa. However, the marriage floundered and Rekha came to London where she worked “illegally” as a cleaner and a carrier for three years. Rekha applied for fresh documents and during their processing, she allegedly developed a relationship with Margison. In September this year, she gave birth to a baby. “Paul Margison has left us in a terrible situation,” she was quoted by the tabloid as saying. The paper said Margison declined to comment. The Association of Passport Holders of India has demanded a comprehensive inquiry by the British Home Office into the whole episode. PTI

WORLD BRIEFS

A biologist feeds baby parrots that were rescued from animal traffickers at the veterinary centre of the Brasilia Zoo in Brasilia, Brazil, on Monday. According to some experts, animal trafficking has grown to become the world's third largest illicit business, exceeded only by the drugs and arms trades. — AP/PTI

BEAUTIES IN NIGERIA FOR MISS WORLD
ABUJA: More than 80 of the world’s most beautiful women have arrived in Nigeria to take part in the Miss World, ending fears that the event would be marred by a boycott in protest over the death sentences hanging over two young mothers. “There is no boycott,” declared a delighted Ben Murray-Bruce, head of the Nigerian state television and a key organiser of the event, as reporters counted 84 beauty queens trooping off the plane. AFP

WOMAN TO DIE FOR KILLING CHILD
MANILA: A Philippine court awarded a 12-year term in jail to a woman who beat to death a three-year-old niece of her lover for vomiting on a pillow, court records showed here on Tuesday. Judge Mauricio Rivera found Maricel Merando guilty of killing Beverly Rosadino in January 1998 at their house in Antipolo City, just outside Manila. Mr Rivera also ordered Merando to pay the family of the child a total of 93,500 pesos ($ 1,798) for damages. DPA

One of the FBI's most wanted criminals, James Kilgore, sits inside a police vehicle, outside court in Cape Town on Monday. Kilgore, who was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, best known for kidnapping newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst , was arrested on Friday night after being on the run for 27 years. — AP/PTI

WOMAN CHALLENGES SWAZI KING
JOHANNESBURG: In a small mountain kingdom landlocked between South Africa and Mozambique, a woman has dared to challenge a decision by Africa’s last absolute monarch to take her schoolgirl daughter as his 10th bride. To the outsider it may seem like a concerned mother protecting her daughter, but in Swaziland, where the all-powerful King Mswati III is known as the “Ngonyama” (lion), it was an unprecedented step, if not scandalous behaviour. AFP