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Monday,
March 31, 2003, Chandigarh, India   |
Pak
opposed to war on Iraq: Jamali
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WINDOW ON
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| Hunt on for Sikh suspect London, March 30 The police has begun an international manhunt for a Sikh suspect who is believed to have left Britain days after the murder of a 17-year-old British girl. The Hampshire police believes he flew to India two days after sixth-form student Hannah Foster’s body was found.
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Pak opposed to war on Iraq: Jamali Beijing, March 30 “Pakistan from day one has been very clear in its policy. Pakistan would not support war against Iraq and we stick to that policy,” Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said here in an interview aired by state-run television channel, China Central television (CCTV) today. “Unfortunately, war has taken place. Now, of course, we say that the war should end immediately. We have appealed to the UN, the Organisation of Islamic Conference, the Arab League and to the whole world as a matter of fact,” he said. “The war should stop. If the pre-emption attack takes place it would be a threat all over the world. So our policy has been very clear as far as Pakistan is concerned. We do not support war against Iraq,” Mr Jamali said adding “I think that is the common denominator that the war should end.” “Every country should be allowed to live peacefully. Live and let live, should be the policy,” he said adding countries should be left alone while deciding their way of life. Quizzed about his view on the US-led war on Iraq and its “genuine objective”, Mr Jamali gave a diplomatic answer but said the war lacked the authority of UN. Noting that he has not yet met with US President George W. Bush, Mr Jamali said Washington has been following a policy chalked out by themselves. “In my assessment, even China, Russia, France, Germany all of these major countries have not appreciated the action taken by the Americans. In any case President Bush has gone ahead. Any action within the gambit of the UN would have had certain credibility,” he commented. On whether the war on Iraq would divide nations, regions and threaten world security, Mr Jamali said “yes” and pointed out that after the first World War, the League of Nations died its own death. “We don’t want the UN to die its own death. The role of the UN must be retained. It is a necessity and necessary,” Mr Jamali said. The Pakistani premier pointed out that in the 21st century, every country has to think and realise that the UN, which has been in existence for over 50 years, should continue to have an eminent and important role in world affairs. “The UN should be retained, should be effective and taken into consideration and respected,” he said. Commenting on the world-wide protests against the war on Iraq, Mr Jamali said the people have clearly expressed their views against war. “I think the verdict of the humanity is already there. There are people who are protesting in Europe, in Astralia, in America itself, in Asia. There are protests all over. I think if the human mind, if the human feelings are respected, it is all clear,” he said. Asked about Sino-Pakistani relations, Mr Jamali described the ties as “excellent”.
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WINDOW ON PAKISTAN WHATEVER be the ambivalence of the present Pakistani leadership over the American attack on Iraq, the public mood is clearly expressed through repeated angry protest marches and yarns of space that the media continues to devote to criticise the “American villainy”. It is, however, the fear that Pakistan is on the list of the super power that haunts everyone. It is for nothing that Prime Minister Zaffarullah Jamali said: “Pakistan believes that the regime should be changed by the people of Iraq.” Jamali also cancelled his scheduled visit to the USA in, what the Foreign Office said, “deference to public opinion. But it is not a U-turn and the cancellation of the visit will not affect Pakistan’s relations with the USA.” Jamali, however, spent three “ very fruitful and rewarding days” with the Chinese leadership signing agreements and discussing the Iraq war. But this respect for public sentiments does not run any deeper as everyone from President Musharraf to Mr Jamali to the Foreign Office have repeatedly refused to “condemn” the US attack on Iraq saying Pakistan “deplores” it. Strangely, the leaders have insisted to term it “military action” instead of calling it an “aggression” or “attack”. This despite the fact this US action does not carry the seal of approval from the UN Security Council. Writing in the Daily Times Hassan Askari Rizivi, a political scientist, said: “The government has refrained from naming the state that is waging the war. It has also avoided the question of whether the war is in line with the Security Council Resolution 1441”. As domestic pressure for adopting a more definite position mounted, the government expressed its views in relatively clearer terms, but still avoided criticising the USA. In diplomatic parlance, “regret”, “deplore”, and “condemn” have different connotations. “Deplore” and “condemn” do not convey the same positions. “Regret” is the weakest of the three expressions, and “condemn” the strongest. Pakistan adopted the middle position after the war began.” This has left the people and the media far from satisfied. Pakistan over the years finds itself tied to the apron strings of the West whenever the world is facing a crisis. During the 1956 Suez crisis and immediately after the Islamic Revolution, there was a pronounced gap between the official Pakistani position and the perception of Pakistan’s foreign policy at home and abroad. In 1956, Pakistan’s ties with Britain and the USA made it difficult for Pakistan to adopt a forthright position that could be viewed as the principled stand by independent political observers. After the Iranian Revolution, Pakistan was tagged with the conservative and pro-US Islamic states of the Gulf region. The reason is that Pakistan, as a front-line state not only gets economic and military aid but successive military regimes keep getting American sanction. The US-British support on Kashmir is just a bonus. The military, bureaucratic-landlord nexus prospers on this support and democracy remains throttled. Well known columnist Ayaz Amir who has no sympathy for the tyrant Bush or the tyrant Saddam wrote in Dawn more out of anguish for the people of Iraq. “The USA, or rather the war caucus now at the steering wheel of US policy, has its own agenda, something that goes beyond Iraq and predates September 11. The war caucus wanted a war in West Asia for a host of reasons all inter-connected. Oil, Israel, the entrenchment of US power (as if any more entrenchment were needed) and Christian evangelism has all been at work in priming the USA for this war.” And Amir is not the only the Pakistani thinker to warn Pakistan to be wary as it could soon find itself in the same place as Iraq. “ Will the annihilation of Iraq satisfy the war caucus? Or will its appetite be whetted for more? What are the limits of American arrogance? Or, in other words, after Iraq, who? No one can say for sure. But Pakistan has to be wary. What was the mantra behind this war? Weapons of mass destruction. Does a nuclear bomb qualify for this label? If it does, we better watch out for our so-called ‘strategic assets’.” Claude Salhami writing in South Asia Tribune, quoting official sources, said among the unnamed countries Pakistan figured prominently. Neo conservatives in the US administration count Pakistan as a rogue state and part of the axis of evil Amir, of course, had some suggestions to make: “If there is a nightmare now weighing upon the Pakistani mind it is of an Indo-American squeeze, India and the USA working in tandem to put Pakistan in its place.” Urging Gen. Musharraf not to take pride in his obduracy towards India as his policy has been his biggest failure, he wrote: “Despite the scarecrow of Kargil he carried round his neck, he had a chance at Agra to mend relations with India, to secure them on a fresh basis. But he and his negotiating team blew it, not for want of goodwill but for a failure of vision. They saw the trees and were passionate about them. They just couldn’t see the forest.” He also blamed Indians who blew the chance likewise. But Pakistan has to worry about the charge of cross border terrorism. His advice is to settle down with India once for all the issue of Kashmir and setup good relations. But are Musharraf and company, caught on sticky wicket, listening. |
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UK Muslims attacked London, March 30 The attacks, which caused a minor damage, followed official warnings issued to 350 mosques and community centres by the Muslim Council of Britain about the risks of a backlash after the outbreak of war against Iraq. In the latest incident, Madinah Mosque in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, was hit by a petrol-bomb early last week which caused superficial damage. A pig’s head was thrown at the same mosque last year, during the Afghanistan war. Ten days ago, a petrol-bomb was thrown at a pizza restaurant run by Iraqi immigrants in Redcar, Cleveland. A man was arrested after the attack. The extent of hatred was much less compared to the post-September 11 situation, a spokesman for the council said.
PTI |
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Hunt on for Sikh suspect London, March 30 The man, who is in his 30s, lived with his family a few hundred yards from where Hannah was allegedly abducted in Southampton and not far from her home, according to a report in ‘The Times’.Detective Inspector Tony Adams, who is in charge of the inquiry, said, “We are now in a position to confirm that we have a strong suspect for the abduction, rape and murder of Hannah Foster.” Weeks before she disappeared, Hannah had complained to friends that she had been stalked by an Asian man.
The murder squad is liaising with Indian forces. The suspect’s name and description have been circulated through Interpol and the Crown Prosecution Service is preparing an extradition warrant. Hannah vanished on March 14 a few hundred yards from her home in Southampton. Minutes later, a 999 call was made on her mobile phone. The police says the muffled voice of a man was heard. A man was seen dumping her bag in the Southsea area of Portsmouth the next morning and her body was found a day later. Officers said she was raped before being strangled. The suspect left Britain on March 18. The police is standing guard at his flat in the Portsdown area of the city.
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