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Friday,
November 22, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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NATO to back UN disarming of Iraq
Lured by agents, Indians penniless in Malaysia Gurpurb fireworks break Paris chill Bomber blows up bus; 10 killed
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Tit-for-tat rape on Pak panchayat order
Pervez speech ‘series of untruths’ Pallone for curbs on Pak How suitcase man finished Taliban Afghanistan — a year later
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NATO to back UN disarming of Iraq Prague, November 21 “NATO allies stand united in their commitment to take effective action to assist and support the efforts of the UN to ensure full and immediate compliance by Iraq with the conditions or restrictions of UNSCR 1441,” diplomats quoted the alliance’s communique on Iraq as reading. UNSCR 1441 is the Security Council resolution that sent arms inspectors back to Iraq this week after an absence of four years. The USA had been pushing NATO to issue a strong statement of support for its efforts to disarm Iraq but opposition from some alliance members, wary of eventual war, watered down the final wording of the declaration. Meanwhile, NATO leaders agreed today to the organisation’s biggest ever enlargement, inviting seven ex-Communist countries to join the former Cold War bloc as it extends into former Soviet Union territory. “This is a crucial and important decision,” said Secretary-General George Robertson, before proposing the list of countries to join NATO. His proposal was immediately agreed upon by silent assent. A small round of applause erupted when Mr Robertson confirmed the approval. French President Jacques Chirac called the decision “historic.” The seven countries waiting to be given the green light for membership in 2004 are: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. US President George W Bush said the expansion will “refresh the spirit” of the world’s premier military partnership. “America is very pleased by today’s decision. We believe it strengthens our nation’s most important alliance,” he said in brief remarks after leaders approved NATO’s widest-ever expansion. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said an enlarged NATO will provide “the bedrock” of geopolitical stability.
Reuters, AFP |
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Lured by agents, Indians penniless in Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, November 21 The poor, illiterate villagers, from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu said they believed agents who told them they could earn up to Rs 15,000 a month, plus food, accommodation and other perks. Now they are stuck in Malaysia with no job, no money, no way home, and desperately seeking justice. “Apart from food and shelter our problem is that some workers are getting in to deep depression, they keep staring at the ceiling and the walls, some shed tears when we visit them to offer food and counselling,” said Aegile Fernandez of Tenaganita, a non-government organisation. They are worried about their families, as they have not sent any money home and some have taken loans, sold their land and family jewellery, she said. The cases that have come to light since October allegedly involve three Malaysian companies and two Indian agents with counterparts in Malaysia. A Malaysian company, Gopis Construction, reportedly hired Chennai-based Associated Tours Madrasto get workers from India. Chin Well Fasteners and Tong Yong Metals, both located in Penang, northern state of Malaysia, were provided labour by Chennai-based Mithun Travels. The Indian agents made verbal promises to workers about the level of salary and benefits they could expect. But when the migrants arrived in Malaysia, the local agents and employers offered entirely different terms and washed their hands of whatever their Indian counterparty had said would be on
offer. PTI |
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Gurpurb fireworks break Paris chill Paris, November 21 A special prayer session, an ‘Akhand Path’ an hour-long fireworks display and a ‘langar’ were the highlights of the first phase of the celebrations. The gurdwara in the suburb of Bobigny had been decked up with lights and candles especially for the celebrations spread over two weeks. The festivities will conclude with the arrival of a special Indian ‘keertan jatha’ in Paris on December 1. For the local Punjabi community in France, which numbers about 35,000, the event had social and religious significance. “For us, it is very important that community members come to gurdwara in as large numbers as possible on these occasions,” said Chain Singh, a Sikh community leader and member of the executive committee that runs the gurdwara. “Such interactions go a long way in building a strong, inter-community relationship, which is important when you are living outside your own country and with very few others from your community to share your emotions with.” He said celebrations like these were important as they exposed young children and second-generation migrants to their own cultural roots. This was extremely important for the community to preserve its identity. “As it is, we are having so many problems here in France in trying to maintain our identity, since French laws do not permit our children to keep hair and wear turbans in schools. “The French don’t accept any pictures with turbans for any official purpose. Hence, these festivals become a rallying point for us in order to keep the community intact,” he added.
IANS |
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Bomber blows up bus; 10 killed Jerusalem, November 21 The explosion ripped through the commuter bus during morning rush hour, and witnesses said wounded children who had been on their way to school could be heard screaming “mamma, mamma” from the twisted wreckage. The bombing, the first in Jerusalem since June, provided further evidence Palestinian militants were determined to make their presence felt in the run-up to Israel’s January 28 ballot and raised the spectre of harsh military retaliation. “I was driving and heard the explosion. I heard the screams and stopped the car. I saw people draped out of windows. Two or three children who were screaming inside the bus and then climbed out,” one witness who identified himself as Tomer told Israel Radio. Ariel Gino, a resident of the Kiryat Menahem neighbourhood where the blast occurred, rushed to help the victims, many of them burned, bloodied and sobbing. The bomber apparently set off his explosives at the front of the bus as it was approaching a bus stop. Police and rescue workers said the blast killed at least 10 persons plus the bomber and wounded at least 47. The bombing was the first in Israel since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called a snap election after his broad coalition government collapsed earlier this month, setting the stage for voters to make a clear choice between hawks and doves. Opinion poll show Sharon’s LThere was no immediate claim of responsibility for today’s bombing. Earlier on Thursday, Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles backed by helicopter gunships rumbled into the southern Gaza Strip and blew up the home of a senior Palestinian militant. Witnesses said tanks surrounded the one-storeyed home of Talal Abu Zarifa, a militant on Israel’s wanted list, in the village of Abasan and ordered people to leave before blowing it up.
Reuters |
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Tit-for-tat rape on Pak panchayat order Duniyapur (Pakistan), November 21 Lodhran police rushed to the spot and arrested two women and the Lumbardar of the area.
Abdur Razzaq Mochi, a cobbler, allegedly had illicit relations with Mohammad Hashem Dharkhan’s wife, Jindan Mai, in Jhanderan village of Mozia Mochian in
Qureshiwala, 25 km from Duniyapur. On Tuesday night Mohammad Hashem caught Razzaq Mochi in a compromising position when he came back home from his work place. With the help of his brother Hashem got hold of Razzaq and produced the culprit before Lumbardar Shah Mohammad of the area. The Lumbardar called the panchayat, the village court, and ordered a tit-for-tat revenge. Accordingly, Abdur Razzaq Mochi produced his wife Nasim Bibi before the panchayat. The panchayat ordered Mohammad Hashem Dharkhan to molest Nasim Bibi for the crime her husband had committed against Hashem’s wife. Obeying the orders of the village court, Hashem Dharkhan raped Nasim Bibi in front of the members of the panchayat and others who were present there. SP Lodhran Mohammad Farooq
Sajid, on receiving information, sent a police party to the area and arrested the members of the panchayat, including Lumbardar Shah Mohammad, the two women and their husbands. The SP said the culprits would be severely punished. ANI |
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Pervez speech ‘series of untruths’ Islamabad, November 21 The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) termed the President’s speech a pack of untruths. “General Musharraf’s several tall claims, including that of steering the country onto the democratic course is yet another self-serving untruth in the series of untruths manufactured by the regime during the past three years to advance its own political agenda,” PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a statement. “We have been told these things innumerable times,” senior leader of the six Islamic party alliance Muthahida Majlis Amal (MMA) Liaqat Balooh said, reacting to Musharraf’s speech. Challenging the legitimacy of General Musharraf, Mr Baluch, who is the deputy leader of the Jamat-e-Islami, said since the military ruler claimed to be the duly elected President, he should come and make such speeches before the elected national assembly. On the economic performance of the government, he was quoted as saying by the local daily ‘Dawn’ that irrespective of the claims of General Musharraf, the plight of the common man had worsened in the past three years. Commenting on the country’s foreign exchange reserves, he said, the whole nation was aware of the fact that these had nothing to do with the government’s economic policies. “Five different executive edicts were made into laws, some given back dated effect, to prevent the leadership of the PPP from participating,” he said. The PML-N acting president, Mr Javed Hashmi said that the government had thrown merit to the wind by inducting inexperienced and incapable retired and serving officers of army in civilian jobs.
PTI |
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Pallone
for curbs on Pak The U.S. Congressman, Mr Frank Pallone has announced he will be seeking in the new 108th Congress legislation ‘reimposition’ of Symington sanctions against Pakistan for assisting North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme. Mr Pallone told the House of Representatives on Tuesday that “we must show Pakistan that their promise to help us in our war on terrorism cannot be an empty promise. They cannot have it both ways and until President Musharraf learns this lesson, we must reinstate the Symington Sanctions to protect our allies in Asia and our own nation.” The Democrat Congressman, who had written to President Bush last month urging him to conduct a full investigation of Pakistan’s role in providing North Korea with nuclear information and equipment, said he had not received any response to this letter, which had also called for a ban on future arms sales to Islamabad. Mr Pallone said what he found “appalling” was that the nuclear programme of North Korea which the USA worked tirelessly to halt, was, in fact, sustained through the assistance of Pakistan. This relationship between North Korea and Pakistan had continued even after President Musharraf seized power by force in 1999, and Pakistan was throught to have provided technology up to even three months ago. “I find this particularly outrageous”, the Congressman said |
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How suitcase man finished Taliban London/New York, November 21 A new book by veteran US journalist Bob Woodward has revealed how a CIA operative, codenamed “jawbreaker”, was dropped into Afghanistan just over two weeks after the September 11 attacks with an attache case containing $ 3 million. He led the first of around six CIA paramilitary teams who spread out throughout the country and won the campaign for the US-led coalition. By distributing $70 million to the traditionally mercenary Afghan warlords during the last three months of 2001, they ensured the swift collapse of the Taliban militia. President Bush described the cost of the operations as “a bargain” in a four-hour interview at his ranch in Texas with Woodward who made his name with his award-winning investigation of the Watergate scandal and is now an editor at the Washington Post. The Observer reported at the time that the CIA teams had been deployed to subvert supporters of the Taliban. But this is the first official confirmation from the White House that their tactics relied as heavily on the power of the dollar as on the efficacy of their military equipment. The tactics did not always work. In October, 2001, Abdul Haq, a Pashtun opposition commander, was killed after tribesmen failed to respond to his calls for a revolt against the Taliban. Local tribal chiefs had been given $ 10,000 and a satellite phone by the Americans. They had kept the money and handed the phones to the hardline Islamic militia. Millions of dollars were also disbursed to warlords within the fragmented Northern Alliance to convince them to work together. The fall of the key northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, which prompted the rapid crumbling of the Taliban, was only possible after the CIA bribed two key opposition commanders into cooperating. For centuries Afghan leaders and warlords have looked to overseas powers to provide the funds needed to sustain their operations. Afghanistan is simply too undeveloped to generate the surplus wealth for weapons and troops. The result has been Afghan factions volunteering to be used as proxies. The long-term success of the strategy has been queried by some experts who claim that the payments, which are continuing, are maintaining the position of powerful warlords and inhibiting the growth of any genuine democratic, inclusive or pluralist culture in Afghanistan. They cite the Afghan proverb: You cannot buy an Afghan; you can only rent him for a while.
The Guardian |
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Afghanistan — a year later IT is about a year since the Taliban rule ended and an interim government was established in Afghanistan under the Bonn Agreement, but the challenges facing the country are immense, from security to development to creating political and social institutions necessary for a stable, free and prosperous society with equal rights for all. War against terrorism continues and Afghanistan is still a country subject to conflict between the remnants of terrorism and those who want peace. Conflict among factions continues and the government does not have the means to deal with the security situation. President Karzai’s government has failed to extend its writ across the whole country. Unless there is a meaningful process of reconstruction and government capacity-building — and above all elimination of outside interference in Afghanistan’s affairs — Afghans would continue to struggle to form a “normal country”. These were the highlights of opinions expressed at an open-ended panel of the UN General Assembly in New York earlier this week as it discussed the theme “Afghanistan: one year later” in two sessions dealing with political and economic issues. Mr Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, delivering a message on behalf of the Secretary-General, noted that as per the ambitious schedule for 2002 set by the Bonn Agreement, the interim administration was set up, the Loya Jirga convened and President Hamid Karzai elected. Aid was now being provided . Salaries of government officials were being paid. Roads were being built and a record number of refugees had been assisted in returning home. The list was long, and the challenges facing Afghanistan remained immense, from security to development to creating the political and social institutions necessary for a stable and prosperous society. Mr Jean Arnaud, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Afghanistan, warned that if security was not restored in the coming months, the main danger was massive defection of the Afghan people vis-a-vis the Bonn process. The issue was how the international community could help Afghan institutions successfully tackle the crucial problem of security throughout the country. Also, it was crucial for the international community to show credibility in supporting efforts to create a new army and other institutions. Mr Barnett Rubin, Director of Studies at New York University’s Centre on International Cooperation, said the real problem was not abuse of power, but lack of effective power to govern and provide security. In his view, the lack of security had hindered reconstruction and sapped the legitimacy of the government. Mr Mukesh Kapila, former special adviser to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, refuted allegations that donor promises had not been kept, and said the fundamental point was that
Afghanistan's needs had been collectively underestimated.
A. Balu |
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SAARC SUMMIT MAY BE PUT OFF KASI REQUESTED GIFT FOR PENFRIEND |
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