The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, December 3, 2002, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

W O R L D

Pak Govt ‘house of cards’
Islamabad, December 2
Seven weeks after Pakistan’s General Election, the new government is being likened to a house of cards — standing, but only just. The pro-military Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA) remains the key playmaker and its candidate for Prime Minister squeezed through last week with a one-vote majority.

Kenya finds clues to bombing
Kikambala, December 2
Kenya said today it was mulling an Israeli request to take home evidence from last week’s attacks here, while Washington kept the spotlight on Al-Qaida and a militant Somali group.

An aerial view shows the destroyed Israeli-owned Paradise hotel complex in Mombasa, Kenya, on Monday. — Reuters photo

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Chinese Vice-President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Russia, China vow to fight terrorism
Beijing, December 2
Taking serious note of terrorist activities within their countries, China and Russia today pledged to deal with the menace with a firm hand while calling for political and diplomatic solutions to the weapons crisis in Iraq and denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) meets Chinese Vice-President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday. — Reuters photo
In video (28k, 56k)

Russia expels Swedish envoys
Moscow, December 2
Russia today expelled two Swedish diplomats in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsion of two Russian envoys in Stockholm accused of economic espionage, the Foreign Ministry said. The two diplomats are being expelled for “activities damaging the security interests of the Russian state,” a ministry statement said, quoted by the Interfax news agency.

WORLD BRIEFS

PAK TIT-BITS

Iraqi former atomic scientist Dr Hussain Al-Sharistani stands outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London on Monday. Sharistani said he was imprisoned by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein between 1979 and 1991, during which time he says he was tortured and kept in solitary confinement for refusing to work on Iraq's military nuclear programme. The British government accused Saddam Hussein on Monday of gross human rights violations as it sought to harden public opinion ahead of a possible war with Iraq. — Reuters

EARLIER STORIES

	PML-Q man is Baluchistan’s CM December 2, 2002
	MMA comes to power in NWFP December 1, 2002
	PPP asks Jamali to prove majority November 30, 2002
	PML(Q) resumes talks with MMA November 29, 2002
	Rocket strikes US base in Afghanistan November 28, 2002
	USA, Russia condemn temple attack November 27, 2002
	‘Normalising ties with India first priority’ November 26, 2002
	Ship carrying US arms heads for Gulf November 25, 2002
	Jamali becomes Pak PM November 24, 2002

Hamid Karzai (R), President of Afghanistan, gives a thumbs up beside United Nations Special Representative for Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi at the second Afghanistan Conference in Koenigswinter on Monday. Foreign Ministers and state representatives have come together for the one-day conference named "Rebuilding Afghanistan: Peace and Stability".
— Reuters

India, Russia to discuss Iraq
Moscow, December 2
International terrorism and the Iraq issue will figure prominently in talks between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the latter’s visit to India, from December 3 to 5.

12 dead in Afghan clash
Kabul, December 2
Scores of villagers were fleeing their homes in western Afghanistan today as heavy fighting which has left at least 12 persons dead resumed between two rival warlords, a spokesman said. Conflict broke out over the weekend between Ismail Khan, the powerful Governor of Herat province, and Commander Amanullah Khan, a leader in the south of the province.

Pak Govt ‘house of cards’

Islamabad, December 2
Seven weeks after Pakistan’s General Election, the new government is being likened to a house of cards — standing, but only just.

The pro-military Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA) remains the key playmaker and its candidate for Prime Minister squeezed through last week with a one-vote majority.

But that was only achieved with the help of smaller parties and 10 defectors from the anti-military Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led by exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

It did not take long for the first crisis to emerge.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), based in the southern port city of Karachi, withdrew support of its 16 parliamentarians on Wednesday, forcing Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali to scrabble around for new friends.

He faces a mandatory confidence vote in Parliament within two months of his investiture.

Yesterday, he tried to bring in a hardline Islamic coalition, which posted huge gains in the October 10 poll by tapping fierce anti-US sentiment in some areas of Pakistan triggered by the attacks on neighbouring Afghanistan.

The Muttahida Majlis-a-Amal (MMA) Islamic coalition, which numbers pro-Taliban clerics among its leaders, won 60 seats and its possible role in government has raised concern that it may seek to block the US-led hunt for Al Qaida remnants in remote Pakistani border regions.

But while the pro-military PML-QA and the Islamic alliance have agreed to share power in Baluchistan, hurdles remain at a national level. Reuters

Kenya finds clues to bombing

Kikambala, December 2
Kenya said today it was mulling an Israeli request to take home evidence from last week’s attacks here, while Washington kept the spotlight on Al-Qaida and a militant Somali group.

Top Kenyan investigator William Lang’at spoke of the Israeli request after the police reported finding pieces of a gas cylinder it said was used in Thursday’s bombing of the Israeli-owned beach hotel in Kikambala.

The Kenyans last week found two shoulder-held missile launchers and several projectiles which were used in an almost simultaneous but failed attack on an Israeli charter plane taking off from the nearby Mombasa.

“They (Israelis) have made a request to take some of the exhibits back home for forensic examination,” Mr Lang’at, told journalists. “It will be decided in due course.”

Kenya is leading the investigation into the November 28 bombing of the hotel here and a failed missile attack on an Israeli charter plane taking off from the nearby Mombasa airport minutes earlier. AFP

Russia, China vow to fight terrorism

Beijing, December 2
Taking serious note of terrorist activities within their countries, China and Russia today pledged to deal with the menace with a firm hand while calling for political and diplomatic solutions to the weapons crisis in Iraq and denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

“Both countries will not tolerate activities on their territories of organisations and groups harming their sovereignty, security and territorial integrity,” a joint declaration signed by Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after their hour-long meeting here said, Ria Novosti news service reported.

China is trying to quell Uighur separatists in its Xinjiang region while Russia is fighting Chechen rebels.

On Iraq, the two leaders said that the weapons crisis can only be solved by political and diplomatic means on the basis of the UN Security Council resolution.

China and Russia have opposed any unilateral action against Iraq on the issue and want that any such move must have the world body’s approval.

The two leaders urged the USA and North Korea to normalise diplomatic relations, and called for making the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons.

Mr Putin and Mr Jiang, both allies of North Korea, said a nuclear-free Korean peninsula was important for security of the region and the world.

The two leaders met a day before Mr Putin embarks on a three-day visit to India.

Addressing a joint press conference after their meeting, Mr Putin said that bilateral relations were at a “very high level” and expressed confidence in China’s fourth generation leaders who had taken the political stage. “We hope the leaders in our two countries will work hard together to achieve great things.”

Jiang said the China-Russia good-neighbourly treaty of friendship and cooperation signed last July had provided a solid legal foundation for lasting friendship for generations to come. PTI

Russia expels Swedish envoys

Moscow, December 2
Russia today expelled two Swedish diplomats in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsion of two Russian envoys in Stockholm accused of economic espionage, the Foreign Ministry said.

The two diplomats are being expelled for “activities damaging the security interests of the Russian state,” a ministry statement said, quoted by the Interfax news agency.

Swedish Ambassador, Sven Hirdman, was summoned by the Russian Foreign Ministry today to inform him of the expulsions, the statement added.

The Swedish police early last month arrested three suspect on suspicion of supplying confidential company documents to Russia in an alleged industrial espionage plot at a subsidiary of telecommunications equipment giant Ericsson. AFP

India, Russia to discuss Iraq

Moscow, December 2
International terrorism and the Iraq issue will figure prominently in talks between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the latter’s visit to India, from December 3 to 5.

The two countries were facing common threats of international terrorism, Indian Prime Minister Vajpyaee told Russian journalists, on the eve of his summit with Mr Putin. “These common threats are reflected in the joint Anti-terrorist Declaration, which was signed during my visit to Russia, in November 2001,’’ RIA Novosti news agency quoted Mr Vajpayee as saying. UNI

12 dead in Afghan clash

Kabul, December 2
Scores of villagers were fleeing their homes in western Afghanistan today as heavy fighting which has left at least 12 persons dead resumed between two rival warlords, a spokesman said.

Conflict broke out over the weekend between Ismail Khan, the powerful Governor of Herat province, and Commander Amanullah Khan, a leader in the south of the province.

“The fighting is still going on, this morning the forces of Ismail Khan attacked our troops once again. One of their soldiers was killed,” said Nangyali, Amanullah’s son.

“People have started leaving their houses because of all the rockets hitting their villages,” he added.

Amanullah Khan said his forces were attacked near the city of Shindand in a racially-motivated assault by ethnic Tajik Ismail Khan against the minority ethnic Pashtun population in Herat. AFP

WORLD BRIEFS

HELD FOR CLOSE PROXIMITY
KUALA LUMPUR: Two Malaysian celebrities have been arrested by religious authorities for the Islamic offence of “khalwat”, which forbids men and women who are not married to each other from being in close proximity, reports said on Monday. Actress Aida Rahim and singer Joe Radzwill were detained on Sunday at a condominium in a suburb outside Kuala Lumpur following a tipoff, the New Straits Times said. They were expected to be charged under Islamic Sharia laws and face up to two years’ jail or a 3,000 ringgit (789 dollars) fine if found guilty. AFP

JACKSON GETS WEIRDER
LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson seems to be moonwalking from one embarrassment to another this year. He publicly feuded with his record label, accusing its chief of racism after his album sales were low. He dangled his infant son from a hotel balcony. And his morbidly altered face just gets weirder. As the trial resumes tomorrow in a lawsuit filed against the 44-year-old entertainer in a contract dispute, his erratic behavior has once again eclipsed his musical talent. “Just when you think it can’t get any worse, Michael Jackson finds a way- an unprecedentedly creative way- to make it worse,” said Michael Levine, a public relations expert who represented Jackson in 1993. AP

JEWISH GRAVES DESECRATED
LONDON: Vandals have desecrated Jewish graves in a cemetery north of London by daubing red Nazi swastika on every headstone, according to British police. Since the attack on Tuesday, police patrols have been stepped up around St Mary’s Church in the town of Bletchley, but no arrests have been made. Barry Norman, who chairs the local synagogue, said on Sunday: “I am horrified. Desecration of any graveyard is unacceptable and when swastika are sprayed on Jewish graves, it obviously touches a few nerves.” AFP

REUNITED AFTER 370 KM TRAIN JOURNEY
LONDON: A British five-year-old who got separated from his mother provoking a major police search, has been reunited with his family after a 370 km train journey from Scotland to England, the press reported on Monday. Shabaaz Iqbal, his four brothers and his mother travelled the few miles from their home to the centre of Glasgow by train on Saturday to do some Christmas shopping. The little boy lost the rest of his family in a department store and so decided to get back home the same way he came. Turning up at Glasgow’s central railway station, he jumped on the first train he saw. But rather than the local train to his home in Polloksh Fields, he found himself on a train heading towards Reading, west of London, the papers said. AFP

PAK TIT-BITS

1,300 LOCAL ULTRAS RELEASED: US DAILY
SILICON VALLEY: Islamabad’s claims of fighting terrorism effectively will remain hollow as long as the country remains a “revolving door for jailed terrorists” who kill Indians in Kashmir and foreigners in Pakistan at will, a leading US daily said in its editorial. “It is indeed worrisome to note that the Pakistan Government had released at least 1,300 of the 3,000 Pakistanis detained following a crackdown on local terrorists earlier this year,” the Los Angeles Times said. “The nation that made it possible for the Taliban to take power in next-door Afghanistan and is still home to Muslim terrorists, including some from the Al-Qaida, should not be giving away get-out-of-jail-free cards”, the paper said. PTI

NIGERIAN PRISONER DIES OF AIDS
ISLAMABAD: Nauvoy Papa died of AIDS after spending his last agonising days chained to a bed in an overcrowded Pakistani hospital. The Nigerian prisoner was one of a small but growing number of people in Pakistan diagnosed with HIV. Just 1,700 persons have tested positive for HIV in Pakistan, a country of more than 140 million people, and 230 cases of full-blown AIDS have been reported so far. But UN officials say as many as 80,000 HIV cases may have gone unreported. AP