 |
|
Saturday,
November 30, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
PPP asks Jamali to prove majority Israel airlifts tourists out of Kenya
Media warns of Nigeria’s ‘Talibanisation’
Osama healthy, says Pak doctor |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Lanka welcomes shift in LTTE’s
stand Sonia
presents Indira’s portrait to Oxford University
Maoists explode bomb at Tribhuvan varsity Reporter held for links with arrested scribes
|
|
PPP asks Jamali to prove majority
Islamabad, November 29 Mr Jamali held an emergency meeting with Mr Musharraf last evening during which it was agreed that the government would try to seek the support of the pro-Taliban alliance of six parties, the MMA, state on-line news agency quoted officials as saying. It also said that both Mr Musharraf and Mr Jamali were of the view that the government cannot be “blackmailed”. Mr Jamali’s government was reduced to a minority after a 17-member strong Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) withdrew support and decided to sit in the Opposition last Wednesday. Yesterday, the ruling pro-Musharraf party held talks with the MMA in order to garner the required majority. The leader of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Makhdoom Amin Fahim, demanded immediate convening of Parliament to enable Mr Jamali to prove his majority in the House. “It is for the government to prove its majority”, he told reporters in Karachi last night. The MMA has reiterated that in order to gain its co-operation, Mr Musharraf should resign as chief of Army and abrogate the Legal Framework Order (LFO) which contained constitutional amendments that granted him powers to dissolve Parliament and ensured a role for the military in the governance. Accusing the government of trying to split his party to gain support, Mr Fahim also warned stern action against 10 defectors of his party, who are supporting Mr Jamali. PTI
|
|
Israel airlifts tourists out of Kenya
Kikambabla (Kenya), November 29 One more body was recovered late yesterday from the rubble of the bombing on an Israeli-owned hotel near the coastal city of Mombasa, bringing the total to 16, including the three suicide bombers. “During the last hours we flew four Hercules planes to Mombasa,” Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Gilad Millo told journalists at the devastated beach hotel in Kikambala, north of Mombasa. “They arrived with medical doctors, psychologists and police investigators. We brought a lot of blood,” Mr Millo said from outside the wreckage of the Paradise Mombasa Hotel, which was teeming with other officials from Israel, Kenya and the USA. “We flew back 15 injured persons, three bodies and 235 others, among them 140 survivors and others staying in hotels of Mombasa. We also flew a Kenyan woman, badly injured, who wanted to be treated in Israel,” he said. Meanwhile, the Kenyan police said today that a third suspect had been arrested in connection with the attack, in which a bomb-packed vehicle was rammed into the hotel yesterday morning, provoking vehement condemnation from around the world. “The three, all foreigners of Arab origin, are being held for questioning over terrorist links,” police spokesman King’ori Mwangi said on the telephone. Mr King’ori said a couple was arrested yesterday morning in a hotel neighbouring the bombed hotel, while the third was arrested at midnight in the centre of Mombasa. In Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon swore to avenge the deaths of Israelis who had been killed in Mombasa and in other attacks yesterday. AFP
|
|
Media warns of Nigeria’s ‘Talibanisation’ Washington, November 29 Taking a grim view of the riots which left more than 200 killed, an editorial titled “Thwarting an African Taliban” in The Washington Post said, “If the Bush administration does not help Nigeria’s fragile democracy to manage its sectarian tensions and incipient violence”, a Taliban-style movement might take over large parts of the country.” The daily pointed out that Nigeria’s 130 million people were divided roughly between Muslim northerners and southerners who were Christian or followed traditional faiths. “Earlier, Nigeria was successful in managing this division reasonably. Politics was dominated by moderate Muslim generals with no wish to inflame religious jealousy. But in the past three years, Islam has taken a more radical turn in Nigeria, the daily said.
PTI |
|
Osama healthy, says Pak doctor
New York, November 29 Bin Laden, who US intelligence officials confirmed after analysing an audiotape earlier this month was still alive, was reported to have a kidney ailment and needed a dialyser to survive. Mr Amer Aziz, the Lahore-based physician, said he found nothing physically wrong with Osama when he met the latter even for the second time. “When I hear these reports, I laugh. I did not see any evidence,” Mr Aziz told The New York Times in an interview. “He was in good condition,” he said. The doctor met Bin Laden in Kandahar in 1999, when the Al-Qaida leader fell from his horse and sprained his back. Two years later, when the physician was in Kabul to donate books and equipment to a medical school, he had a chance meeting with Osama Bin Laden. “We had no regular contact,” Mr Aziz said in the interview, conducted earlier in the week, but published in the newspaper’s November 28 edition. Officials from the CIA and the FBI as well as the Pakistani intelligence had questioned him about his alleged close links to the mastermind of the September 11 attacks. “They thought I was the confidant of Osama Bin Laden. They said I was the confidant of Mullah Omar, whom I have never met,” the doctor was quoted as saying. Mr Aziz was intensely interrogated during a month-long detention by US agents, who found that the doctor had no links with Taliban or Al-Qaida. The 47-year-old is among the most famous orthopaedic surgeons in Pakistan. He is known to be sympathetic to groups waging ‘jehad’ in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Kashmir. Mr Aziz said the US officials were acting out of paranoia. “Now, anyone with a beard is associated with Al-Qaida,” he told the newspaper. UNI
|
|
Lanka welcomes shift in LTTE’s stand
Colombo, November 29 “This encourages me to believe that the political dialogue can be fruitful because the positions of the two parties are no longer incompatible.” Mr Wickremesinghe, whose government revived a dormant peace process after coming to power in December, 2001, and has held two sessions of peace talks with the LTTE, saw a “paradigm shift” in the LTTE’s position. Prabhakaran had in an annual address on Wednesday said self-rule and autonomy for the Tamil areas could be a possible alternative for a separate state, but warned that he could revive his campaign for independence if the demand was rejected. The thrust of this shift was that the group no longer pursued relentlessly its idea of a separate state, but was willing to consider substantial power-sharing within a framework of a united Sri Lanka. The Oslo Conference had fulfilled the government’s objective of mobilising international support for a negotiated political settlement, taking advantage of the drastic change in the global environment after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the USA, Mr Wickremesinghe said. “What we have achieved at Oslo is to transfer the solution of the ethnic conflict and related issues from the battle-field to the negotiating table,” Mr Wickremesinghe said. He said the discussions held so far had enabled the parties to identify issues on which there were agreement and take note of potential sources of tension, while putting in place mechanisms to address problems. “We have now reached the stage when political issues can be addressed.” Mr Wickremesinghe said at the next session of talks (December 2-5 in Oslo), the government delegation would take up key issues relating to the consolidation of the ceasefire agreement in force since February 23. “These will include the enforcement of law and order by the government agencies.” PTI
|
|
Sonia presents Indira’s portrait to Oxford University
London, November 29 “Indira Gandhi was no feminist, but she became an icon to many women,” Ms Sonia Gandhi said after unveiling a portrait of Indira Gandhi, her mother-in-law, at Somerville College. Ms Sonia Gandhi presented the portrait to Dame Fiona Caldicott, Principal of Somerville College, following a request from the college. The portrait by Sanjeev Bhattacharya will be displayed at the college’s Margaret Thatcher Centre. “It is a matter of pride to all of us Indians that Somerville College is honouring Indira Gandhi today,” Ms Sonia Gandhi said at the ceremony. She noted that Indira Gandhi had returned to Oxford in November 1971 when an honorary doctorate was conferred on her. Indira Gandhi had been at Somerville College as a student, but she had not completed the degree course. “There is something truly enduring about her,” Ms Sonia Gandhi said. “Eighteen years after her tragic death, she is still very much a living and powerful presence in our lives. Across the vast length and breadth of India she is still fondly remembered, especially by the poor, the weak and the disadvantaged. “Millions reminisce vividly about her concern for their welfare and well-being. It is indeed a remarkable tribute to her life’s work and mission that her legacy is still palpably felt and affectionately recalled,” she said. Ms Sonia Gandhi said: “Indira Gandhi’s place in history is assured. She was completely dedicated to making India a strong, a self-reliant and self-confident nation. Later in the day, Ms Sonia Gandhi delivered the prestigious Commonwealth lecture arranged by the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, affiliated to Magdalen College. The centre has Prince Charles as one of its patrons. IANS |
|
Maoists explode bomb at Tribhuvan varsity
Kathmandu, November 29 However, no one was injured when the bomb planted by the rebels exploded at 5.55 am on the ground floor of the central office building of the university, 5 km South of the capital, the sources said. The entire three-storey building of the central office was shaken by the blast, damaging the financial administration section at the ground floor, they said. But no damage was caused to the Vice-Chancellor’s room situated on the same floor. The office furniture and doors were damaged and windowpanes broken by the explosion. The Vice-Chancellor, Mr Navin Prakash Jung Shah, was not present at his office during the blast. Tribhuvan University is the oldest university in the country. PTI
|
|
Reporter
held for links with arrested scribes Dhaka, November 29 Sumi Khan, working for Dhaka-based vernacular weekly Shaptahik-2000, was taken from her office for her alleged involvement with the foreign journalists, the media reported today. The Police, however, said Sumi Khan, mother of a minor child, was not arrested but was called in as per instructions from higher authorities for questioning. A vernacular daily, The Jugantor, quoted Sumi Khan as saying that she did not know the two foreign journalists. Meanwhile, a local court has issued permission to lawyers of the arrested persons to meet their clients. The request of consular access by British and Italian missions for their nationals are under process. PTI |
 |
| 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 | |
In video: Indian
intelligence agencies believe Osama bin Laden's deputy, Egyptian
Ayman al-Zawahiri, is in hiding in Bangladesh, but Dhaka has
dismissed the report. (
