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Wednesday,
January 29, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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USA ‘ready to strike Iraq by mid-Feb’
UN inspectors need more time, says Canada Pak forces to guard gas installations 38 of Indian origin honoured in UK
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| Maoists kidnap 36 students Kathmandu, January 28 Two civilians on the ground were killed when Maoists fired at a Nepalese Army helicopter but missed their target, even as 36 students were kidnapped from a school allegedly for recruitment in the rebel forces. 
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USA ‘ready to strike Iraq by mid-Feb’ New York, January 28 Officials told CNN that if Iraq were to make an aggressive move before then, the USA could respond instantly, but any action might be limited to strikes by fighters, bombers and cruise missiles. The February timeframe refers to the goal of being ready with a full invasion force that could achieve the goals of disarmament and regime change, they said. White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr., talking to NBC’s “Meet the Press”, on Monday said the USA would use “whatever means necessary” to protect its citizens and the world from a “holocaust”. Washington Times quoted Mr Card as saying: “I’m not going to put anything on the table or off the table. But we have a responsibility to make sure Saddam Hussein and his generals do not use weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, US intelligence revealed photographic evidence gathered in recent days that Iraqi forces had moved an increasing number of hand-held surface-to-air missile launchers and anti-aircraft artillery pieces into key locations in and around the capital, Baghdad, CNN reported. The network said it was told that the imagery shows launch sites on civilian buildings and other areas the USA would hesitate to strike. This has been a key Iraqi tactic for years, but it has been stepped up in anticipation of a US strike, it added. In another development Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz in an interview with Canada’s CBC television said it did not rule out launching an attack against Kuwait if that country was used as a base for a US military operation against Iraq. In Baghdad Iraqi President Saddam Hussein met top military aides to prepare for different war scenarios just hours after UN Disarmament inspectors submitted their first formal report to the Security Council, the official INA news agency said. The “participants” included his younger son Qusay, head of the regime’s elite Republican Guard, and Defence Minister Sultan Hashem. They briefed the president on the “preparations being carried out by their units concerning troops, equipment, training, deployments and procurement.” A report from UN said Chief UN arms inspector Hans Blix disclosed that Iraq was testing prohibited long-range missiles and was not coming clean on chemical and biological agents it still may have. In addition to missing documents he had previously cited in Baghdad’s 12,000-page declaration submitted on December 7, Mr Blix revealed some new discoveries that cast doubt on Iraq’s compliance with Security Council resolutions. Most of the 15 nations in the UN Security Council want verification from Blix and his colleague Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads the UN nuclear disarmament team, rather than assertions from the USA and the UK alone. Mr Blix said yesterday that Iraq had developed, tested and supplied to its army a liquid-fueled missile, called Al Samoud 2 and a solid propellant missile called Al-Fatah. Both have a range in excess of the permitted 150 km, one of them 183 km, the other 161 km.
PTI, AFP, Reuters |
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UN inspectors need more time, says Canada Ottawa, January 28 Following the report to the UN Security Council (UNSC) by the chief weapons inspectors yesterday, Mr Chretien persistently refused to answer questions in the House of Commons on whether Canada thought there should be a new UN vote on military action against Iraq. But he finally told MPs Canada supported UN resolution 1441 under which arms inspectors returned to Iraq and added, “Now we are waiting for the inspectors’ reports. Meanwhile, Portugal has also said it favours giving UN weapons inspectors more time to carry out their work in Iraq and urged Europe to adopt a common stance on the issue. Australia today called the newly-released report on Iraq by UN weapons inspectors “extremely damning” evidence that Baghdad was in “material breach” of disarmanent resolutions. Porto Alegre (Brazil): The World Social Forum gave an emphatic rejection to war against Iraq. A myriad of anti-war meetings, conferences and marches was organised on Monday to coincide with the delivery to the UN Security Council of a key report on work by weapons inspectors.
AFP |
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Pak forces to guard gas installations Islamabad, January 28 The Dawn quoted spokesman for Interior Ministry Iftikhar Ahmed as saying that more than 2,000 members of the civil armed forces, including the Punjab Constabulary, the Frontier Constabulary, the Rangers and the police, had been deployed at sensitive gas installations of the three provinces. The paper reported the government was ready to hold talks with tribal leaders to discuss all “unsettled issues’’. Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Chaudhry Naurez Shakoor yesterday said that the government was open to negotiate on “unsettled issues’’ rather than allow damage to oil and gas installations. He was responding to statements issued by former Baluchistan Governor and chief of Bugti tribe Nawab Akbar Bugti demanding that the government and gas companies negotiated a fresh agreement with his tribe that owned the land from where most of the gas was produced in Baluchistan.
UNI |
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38 of Indian origin honoured in UK London, January 28 Indian High Commissioner to the UK Ronen Sen said the accomplishment of these individuals was as much an honour to Britain as it was to India. He expressed pride at the excellence achieved by persons of Indian origin in different walks of life, extending from industry to medicine, from television to performing arts and education to community services. Prominent among those honoured were Sir Gulam K. Nonn, Indian food products tycoon and recently Knighted by the Queen for his services to Industry, and Sir Ravinder Nath Maini, Professor of Rheumatology and Head, Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Imperial College, London. Among those honoured are Urmila Bannerji, Commander of British Empire (CBE) and member, Cabinet Office Management board for services to modernisation of Civil Service; Perween Warsi, CBE, Managing Director, S and A Foods for services to business; Arabinda Palit, Order of British Empire (OBE), for services to medicine; Jagir Kaur Sekhon, OBE, for Services to community and Balbir Singh Uppal, OBE, Producer and Diversity Adviser, Carlton Television for services to broadcasting and film. Manilal Premchand Chandaria, OBE, for services to community while Babu Singh Bawa, OBE, received the honour for services to community. Harinder Kaur Lawley, OBE, for services to Higher Education; Hansa Patel-Kanwal, OBE, for services to young people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds; Bhupendra Raja, OBE, for services to racial equality and Hari Prasad Mohanlal Shukla, OBE for services to community. Others honoured were Darshan Singh Bhogal, Member of the British Empire (MBE) for services to community life; Kamaljit Singh Bolina, MBE, Senior Customs Officer; Nidhi Dalmia MBE for services to unemployed people; Niranjana Desai, MBE for services to Education; Nirmala Gupta, MBE for services to education; Gurdev Singh Halsi, MBE for services to Sikh community; John Ashok Pandit, MBE for services to music industry; Amrat Parmar, MBE for services to the defence industry. The High Commissioner also honoured Manpreet Singh Pujara, MBE for services to medicine, Harmegh Singh Rattan, MBE for services to racial equality; Raman Ruparell, MBE for services to community life; Resham Singh Sandhu, MBE for services to community life; Kishore Devsi Shah, MBE for services to safety in the fertiliser Industry, Harjit Singh, MBE for services to medicine; Vijay Chadha, MBE, Customer Service Adviser for Inland Revenue; Joginder Singh Cheema, MBE for services to healthcare, Om Prakash Chopra, MBE for services to community relations; Ramesh Chander Dogra, MBE for services to South Asian studies; Babu Govind Garala, MBE for services to community; Arsha Chitra Gosine-Ghosh, MBE for Senior policy officer, crown prosecution service; Dinesh Kantilal Joshi, MBE for services to race relations; Gordandas Patel, MBE for services to community relations and Ishwar Dullabhabhai Tailor, MBE for services to community relations.
PTI |
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Maoists kidnap 36 students Kathmandu, January 28 Maoists fired at an Army helicopter in Babiyachaur village of Surkhet district yesterday, but the bullets missed their target, instead hitting the civilians who were ironically attending a meeting called by the ultras themselves, a local daily reported today. In a separate incident, Maoists kidnapped 36 students from a school in Gulmi district, according to a local daily. The students were allegedly kidnapped for recruitment in the rebel forces, the report said. The rebels forced the Class VIII students to come with them, saying it was a sacrifice for the country, the Nepal Samacharpatra reported.
PTI |
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