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Wednesday,
December 25, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Khatami checks Pervez on Gujarat violence
Troop pullout: Pak doubts Indian
claim |
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8 injured in Pak
blast
Terror camps:
Bangladesh refutes Indian charge |
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Israeli tourists avoid India
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Khatami checks Pervez on Gujarat violence Islamabad, December 24 Mr Khatami, who is on a three-day visit here, also asked India and Pakistan to sort out their differences in the interest of regional economic development. Asked at a joint press conference here with Pakistan Premier Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali what Iran proposed to do to stop the communal attacks on Muslims in Gujarat, Mr Khatami said he condemned atrocities not only against Muslims but against all human beings. “We are against any kind of brutalities and atrocities against human beings anywhere in the world, especially when it happens against Muslims. No matter where they are, whether it is Palestine, India or anywhere,” he said, adding that in his view sectarian violence was the biggest problem the region was facing. At a banquet hosted for Mr Khatami last night President Musharraf accused the BJP government of “cynically encouraging” communal riots and said “what has happened in Gujarat has finally exposed the myth of Indian secularism”. General Musharraf had raked up Gujarat violence in his address to the UN General Assembly in September, infuriating Chief Minister Narendra Modi who attacked the Pakistani President during his poll campaign addressing him as “Mian Musharraf” repeatedly. Asked about the proposed India-Iran gas pipeline project to be laid through Pakistan, Mr Khatami said there was no problem from Iran and Pakistan but India had expressed its own concerns. About Iran taking initiative to improve the Indo-Pak ties, he said “we hope that India and Pakistan will very soon find solution to their problems on the basis of reasoning and justice. This region belongs to all of us.” Cautioning that there were some countries that did not want development to take place in the region, he said “we do everything possible to remove tensions and work for peace and understanding between both the countries.” Mr Khatami said he had spoken to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and General Musharraf when the two countries were on the verge of a war early this year. Making Indo-Pak relations the central theme of his banquet address last night, General Musharraf had accused India of entertaining “hegemonic ambitions” and said New Delhi’s efforts to “impose a military solution on Kashmir and to use coersive diplomacy through concentration of troops on our borders have failed miserably”. He expressed hope that Iran would help resolve the Kashmir issue in line with UN resolutions. While making a brief mention of potential of Iran to play a role in easing Indo-Pak tensions, Khatami in his speech avoided a direct response to repeated references by General Musharraf to Pakistan’s tension-ridden relations with India.
PTI |
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Troop pullout: Pak doubts Indian claim Islamabad, December 24 The Director-General ISPR of Pakistan, Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi said, “Indian offensive formations or their strike formations in the south have been withdrawn. But we have information that bulk of the troops in north are still deployed and we are monitoring it.” According to “The News”, Major Qureshi while talking to Pakistan Television said, “India claims that its troops withdrawal is complete. Pakistan is closely watching the development but believes there are reasons not to take the Indian claim at face value.”
UNI |
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8 injured in Pak blast Islamabad, December 24 The wounded were taken to nearby hospitals. The police said three of the wounded were in a serious condition. No one has taken responsibility for the explosion. “We have no information about who was behind this bombing, but we are investigating,” a police spokesman said.
AP |
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Terror camps: Bangladesh refutes Indian charge Dhaka, December 24 “The government of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia after a thorough and detailed investigation has intimated Delhi that there was no truth to the charge made by India,” vernacular newspaper ‘The Daily Jugantor’ said today. Quoting officials, it said, “The door is open for any diplomat to verify what the government insists (that there is no terrorist camp). This is for the first time that investigations were carried out separately by various agencies of the government, including Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), DGFI, NSIMI (intelligence agencies) and the Home Ministry and that Indian allegations were found to be baseless.” “We gave topmost priority to Indian allegations and several agencies investigated the matter,” Bangladesh Rifle’s DG Maj-General Rezzakul Haider told the paper. General Haider, who led border talks between the two countries in Delhi in October, said, “When the list (of the terrorist camps) was handed to us, we stated at that time that there was no basis of such allegation.” Save Cox Bazaar and Tangail, all the other eight Bangladeshi districts which have been described by India to housing terrorist camps border Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Meanwhile, Bangladesh Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, who recently visited India, brushed aside reports in a section of the Indian media that Dhaka was ready to fulfil Delhi’s “wish list”, including transit facility and access to the Chittagong port, if Bangladeshi products were allowed zero tariff access to Indian markets. The minister said he was being misquoted, adding “I did not say anything like that,” ‘The Daily Star’ reported today. Bangladesh Finance Minister Saifur Rahman earlier this month ruled out giving out transit and trans-shipment facilities to India.
PTI |
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Israeli tourists avoid India Jerusalem, December 24 Israel’s travel agencies have confirmed a spurt in demand for open tickets overseas in the recent past, but say mostly the young tourists, scared after reports about becoming possible targets of terrorist attacks in India, are now choosing neighbouring countries for holidaying. Officials also confirmed no increase in Israeli tourism to India as war threat looms large in West Asia. People in vulnerable Israeli areas are considering escaping the possible war by taking trips abroad following reports that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had planned a biological attack against their country in the Gulf War.
UNI |
‘KAANTE’ SETS BOX OFFICE RECORD MUSHARRAF MATTERED IN 2002: TIME QUEEN ELIZABETH INJURES KNEE JAPANESE EMPEROR HOSPITALISED SCOUTS TO GET FREE CONDOMS AT JAMBOREE |
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