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Tuesday,
December 24, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Violence precedes Kenyan poll
USA may target us next, feel Pakistanis
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Let UN decide what is terror, says Pervez Islamabad, December 23 In a subtle change, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who insisted for long that militancy in Jammu and Kashmir was “freedom struggle”, has said no individual can define terrorism and it should be left to the discretion of the UN Security Council while favouring US mediation in resolving disputes like Kashmir.
Senator flayed for praising Bin Laden Tourists’ flow from Thailand poor
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Violence precedes Kenyan poll Nairobi, December 23 Days before the most important elections in Kenya’s history, political violence, of the kind that brought President Daniel arap Moi victory in the two previous elections, and left thousands dead, is ripping across the land. Moi, one of Africa’s last ‘Big Men’ tyrants, is constitutionally barred from standing in the poll. But his legacy lives on in the eagerness of candidates from all parties to use violence as a campaign ploy. ‘I expected some intimidation with democracy,’ says Auma, who has five children, a popular, longtime resident of the Kibera slum. Auma’s brutish opponent, a well-funded candidate of the National Rainbow Coalition, is hosting rallies in Kibera everyday. Money is changing hands, Auma claims. Meanwhile, she is pacing Kibera’s muddy alleys, greeting old friends, trailed by six ragged bodyguards. On Friday, western diplomats in Nairobi warned of an increase in violence. `We cannot have a campaign which is marred in the last days by violence,’ said US Ambassador Johnnie Carson. In February last, 25 persons were killed in a Nairobi slum in fighting between rival gangs loyal to two ministers eyeing Moi’s Kanu Party’s presidential nomination. In March, more than 100 persons died in clashes along the Tana River, stirred by two local politicians seeking Kanu’s parliamentary nomination. In September, 16 persons were killed in Isiolo, after a local politician handed out submachine guns to a tribe loyal to his cause. “Political violence used to be ordered straight from State House,’ said Mikewa Ogada of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission. ‘Now the government has lost control of its creation. Violence is for hire everywhere and there is a big market. Everybody is using thugs”, he said. Moi clung on to power by stirring inter-tribal hatred, even as Kenya cemented its place among the world’s most corrupt countries, according to the Transparency International. In the run-up to Moi’s two electoral victories, in 1992 and 1997, more than 3,000 persons died in politically stirred clashes. There have been fewer clashes this year because the two leading candidates, Uhuru Kenyatta, Moi’s choice and son of Jomo, Kenya’s founding father, and Mwai Kibaki, Leader of the Opposition and expected victor, are from the same Kikuyu tribe. All Kenyan politicians employ a ‘jeshi’, meaning ‘army’ in Swahili. On Wednesday, Joseph Nyaga, a former minister campaigning for Kibaki, complained that his rally in central Gachoka constituency was broken up by his rival’s ‘jeshi’ shooting arrows into the crowd. With predictions of a landslide victory for Kibaki, human rights groups are warning of an increase in government-sponsored violence on the day of polling. If, this allows Kanu to claim victory, the fighting is unlikely to stop.
The Guardian |
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USA may target us next, feel Pakistanis New York, December 23 More than a year after President Pervez Musharraf joined the US-led coalition against terrorism, Western and Pakistani observers say suspicion and disenchantment are on the rise among all sections of Pakistani society and an American war against Iraq is likely to further harden opinion, according to a report in the New York Times. The deepest source of resentment is that Pakistan feels it is not being rewarded for its cooperation in the war against terrorism and is not being trusted because it is a Muslim country. The recent disclosure by US intelligence officials that Pakistan shared nuclear technology with North Korea is viewed as the first step toward declaring Pakistan the next rogue state, according to the report. The Bush administration’s diplomatic approach to North Korea and military approach to Iraq is seen as proof of US double standards: one for Muslim countries, and another for others. Meanwhile, the rewards that the USA has bestowed on Pakistan since last September go little remarked and little noticed.
UNI |
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Let UN decide what is terror, says Pervez Islamabad, December 23 “No individual or entity other than the United Nations Security Council can rightly define the term terrorism,” he told the Iranian news agency, IRNA, ahead of President Mohammad Khatami’s three-day visit to Pakistan beginning today. “What constitutes terrorism and what does not is, indeed, a very contentious issue, and that people differ in their definitions of the term according to their individual purposes. So, frankly the UN Security Council should define the term terrorism and then it should strictly be adhered to,” he said.
PTI |
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UN experts check milk factory Baghdad, December 23 After fresh denials from the regime that it had any prohibited arms or banned military programmes, at least three UN teams were at work in the field in the morning. Inspectors from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) went back to the giant Al-Fao plant in the Al-Kremiat area, which they had already visited on Saturday. A biological team entered the babies’ milk factory at Abu Ghreib, 20 km northwest of the capital. A third team specialising in chemical weapons was working at the Ibn al-Bitar centre for veterinary medicine research, 18 km north of Baghdad.
AFP |
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Senator flayed for praising Bin Laden IN America, praising Osama bin Laden is an unpardonable sin tantamount to blasphemy, and a woman Senator is being hauled over the coals for committing that offence. Democrat Patty Murray has propounded a theory on why the man whom the Bush administration wants to eliminate is so popular in some parts of the world, and thereby raised a hornets’ nest. Ms Murray told a gathering of high school honours school students in Vancouver in Washington state that people in many countries were supportive of Osama bin Laden because he and his supporters “have spent years building goodwill in poor nations by helping pay for schools, roads and day-care facilities, building health-care facilities, and people are extremely grateful.” Ms Murray added:”The answers may be uncomfortable, but are important for Americans to ponder.” The lawmaker’s comments have been denounced by many Americans as “offensive.” Mr Chris Vance, chairman of Washington State Republican Party, said:”It is absolutely outrageous and despicable to imply that the US Government should learn a lesson from the mad man who murdered thousands of American citizens. I know Senator Murray has a habit of sticking her foot in her mouth, but this goes way beyond a simple gaffe.” Republican Congressman George Netherault called Ms Murray’s comments “bizarre and
unfou-nded.” In the face of mounting criticism, Senator Murray issued a statement to send out the message that she was not praising Bin Laden. She called him “an evil terrorist”, who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans. The statement, however, warned against sensationalising and distorting her remarks. “The best value of our democracy is the freedom to think and secure a better future,” senator Ms Murray said. |
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Tourists’ flow from Thailand poor Bangkok, December 23 Only 23,000 persons from Thailand, including Indian expatriates, visited India last year. Not that Indian establishment is not aware of the Thais’ lack of interest in Buddhist circuit tourism in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The infrastructure has to be improved and international standard amenities and services provided to boost Indian tourism and hospitality industry, admits Indian Ambassador to Thailand Leela K. Ponappa. Her concerns are founded on ground realities; the inaugural flight of Indian Airlines from Bangkok to Gaya on Saturday could not land at Gaya in the absence of night landing facilities.
PTI |
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