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Friday,
June 13, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Israeli Cabinet discusses violence USA ‘should be ready’ to smash
‘Criminal justice system
on verge of collapse’ India destination for sex tourists: report
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Blix to write book on Iraq
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Israeli
Cabinet discusses violence
Jerusalem, June 12 The Cabinet was not expected to vote to exile Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who many Israeli officials say is ultimately responsible for attacks on Israel, the radio reported. About 16 Palestinians and 16 Israelis have been killed in recent days. The Israelis were killed when a Palestinian militant blew himself up on a Jerusalem bus late yesterday afternoon. Palestinians died in Israeli helicopter strikes at militant targets. Only five of those hit in the strikes were militants. The Islamic militant Hamas organisation claimed responsibility for yesterday’s bus bombing, saying it was a retaliation for Israel’s botched attempt on Tuesday to assassinate Hamas spokesman Abdel Aziz Ranteesi. Hamas, which rejects the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, has vowed revenge for the attack on Ranteesi. Israeli military officials said, however, it was probable the bus bombing was planned prior to the abortive assassination attempt. They identified the bomber as Mohammed Shabani, (20), a Hamas member from the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Palestinians said after the bombing Israel arrested his two brothers and his uncle. Israel Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has ordered security forces to take “all measures’’ necessary against the Hamas. Israel Radio quoted “senior political officials’’ as saying that at the recent West Asia peace summit in Aqaba, Israel never promised to end its policy of assassinating militant leaders. The subject was not even brought up, they said. The Israeli-Palestinian-United States summit, held last week, was intended to kick off implementation of the international “roadmap’’ peace plan. In its initial stage, the plan calls on the sides to take a series of steps to calm the situation.
DPA |
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USA ‘should be ready’ to smash N. Korea reactor
Washington, June 12 “Whether we can effectively mobilise a coalition — including China, Russia, the South Koreans, the Japanese, ourselves — and isolate North Korea so that it will abandon this programme, remains to be seen,’’ said Mr Richard Perle, an architect of the US invasion of Iraq. ‘’That’s certainly the preferable way to deal with it,’’ he added in a speech to an Iraqi reconstruction conference sponsored by King Publishing Group, a Washington-based newsletter publisher. ‘’But I don’t think anyone can exclude the kind of surgical strike we saw in 1981,’’ he said, citing Israel’s surprise air attack that destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad on June 7, 1981. ‘’We should always be prepared to go it alone, if necessary,’’ he said yesterday. Yongbyon, site of a reactor and a plutonium reprocessing plant that North Korea has said it has restarted, lies about 96 km North of Pyongyang. President George W. Bush has branded North Korea part of an ‘’axis of evil’’ with Iran and pre-war Iraq and wants Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear programme. The latest phase of the crisis erupted last October when the USA said Pyongyang had admitted to having a secret uranium enrichment programme. On Monday, North Korea said it wanted nuclear weapons so it could cut its huge conventional forces and divert funds into an economy foreign analysis say is close to collapse. “I think we must assume that if they had a nuclear weapon, and if Al Qaeda wished to purchase a nuclear weapon, it’s a deal that could be done,’’ said Mr Perle, who was Assistant Secretary of Defence for international security policy under President Ronald Reagan. Washington blames Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaida group for the September 11 attacks that killed more than 3,000 people. Reuters
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‘Criminal
justice system on verge of collapse’
London, June 12 “Hamlet’s lament about the laws delays still haunts us in India and the horrendous arrears of cases in courts is a disgraceful blot on our legal system, especially the criminal justice delivery system,” the Attorney-General said while delivering a talk on “Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution: Rhetoric or Reality?” at the Nehru Centre here last night. Prof Jeffrey
Jowell, Professor of Public Law, University College of London, who presided, described Mr Soli Sorabjee as one of the greatest lawyers. Mr Sorabjee said: “The criminal justice system is on the verge of collapse. Because justice is not dispensed speedily, people have come to believe that there is no such thing as justice in courts.” “This perception has caused many a potential litigant who has been wronged to settle out of court on terms which are unfair to him or to secure justice by taking the law into his own hands or by recourse to a parallel mafia dominated system of justice that has sprung up in metropolitan centres like Mumbai,” he said. “The gravity of this development cannot be underestimated. Justice delayed will not only be justice denied, but it will also be the rule of law destroyed,” he said. Referring to measures initiated by the government to clear the backlog of cases, Mr
Sorabjee, who is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague for six years, said fast-track courts had been established and amendments made to expedite the justice delivery system.
PTI
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India destination for sex tourists: report Washington, June 12 The report alleges that India is a country of origin, transit and destination for thousands of trafficked persons. Internal trafficking of women, men and children for purposes of sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, bonded labour and indentured servitude is widespread. Indian men and women also are put into situations of coerced labour and sometimes slave-like conditions in countries in West Asia and the West, the report claims. India is a destination for sex tourists from Europe and the USA. Bangladeshi women are trafficked to India or transited through India en route to Pakistan and West Asia for purposes of sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and forced labour. Nepalese women and girls are trafficked to India for commercial and sexual exploitation, it alleges. However, says the report the central and state governments support prevention campaigns. The Central Government and an international organisation signed a $ 400 million agreement for a five-year programme to prevent trafficking and to assist at-risk children. Together with another international organisation, the government is conducting the world’s largest child labour elimination programme, which includes providing primary education for 250 million children. This year, for the first time, the US Department has put the countries it has examined into three tiers: tier=1: — countries whose governments fully comply with the minimum standards envisaged in US legislation; Tier-2 — countries, including those in South Asia, whose governments do not comply with the Act’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards; and tier=3 — countries whose governments not only do not fully comply with the minimum standards but are also not making significant efforts to do so. Countries in the third segment include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burma, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Greece, Haiti, Liberia, North Korea, Sudan, Surinam, Turkey and Uzbekistan. Iran is among the countries which the USA says it cannot evaluate in the absence of diplomatic relations but is described as a country of origin and transit for women and girls trafficked to the Gulf, Turkey, France, Britain and Pakistan for purposes of commercial and sexual exploitation, the report says. PTI
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Saddam’s daughters ‘plan’ holiday in UK
London, June 12 Raghad (35) and Rana (33) were seeking tourist British visas, Saddam’s cousin Izzedin Hassan al-Majid, who has made representations to the Home Office on their behalf, said. But immigration officials warn that the tourist visa requests could be a ploy to gain entry into Britain and then seek asylum. Officials believe that if the women arrived in Britain, they would have a ‘’strong case’’ to stay. “Whatever the 10 Downing Street says, the reality is that if they reach Britain successfully, a good immigration lawyer will be able to make a strong case for them to remain indefinitely and for this reason they would be refused visas,” a paper quoted an immigration official as having said. “It is a classic backdoor ruse to come on holiday and then stay on claiming asylum only when they are told to leave,” the official said. Al Majid, who fled to Britain in 1996, insisted that Raghad and Rana were not linked to any crimes. “They have done nothing wrong. There are enemies that would like to hurt them, out of revenge over their father. They want to know if I could help find a safe place. I said I would ask about a visa for them to come here for a visit. It’s not true that I am trying to get them asylum.”
UNI |
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Blix to write book on Iraq United Nations, June 12 Blix told Associated Press he would like to write a book about his inside view of the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the prelude to the U S-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein. “I think documentation is important and certainly getting the history straight is important,’’ he said in an interview Tuesday. “I saw an important part of this operation.’’ “If I can put together something, yes, I’d like to do that.’’ Mr Blix said. “I’m trying to think of what I could say.’’ He said he had been approached by several publishers and had not struck a deal with anyone.
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SARS nearing end: WHO
Manila, June 12 “In terms of the number of cases, we are seeing the end of the outbreak,” Mr Oshitani told reporters in Manila. “We do believe the outbreak is under control in China...not completely under control in Taiwan.” Mr Oshitani said seven cases were reported yesterday - one in China, one in Canada, one in Taiwan and four in the USA. Taiwan, with the third-highest number of SARS infections and victims after China and Hong Kong, reported two new cases today. But it was the 12th straight day that new infections remained below five, as a fresh hospital outbreak late last week appeared to be contained. Reuters
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