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Monday,
June 16, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Musharraf to focus on Indo-Pak ties Action against anti-US insurgents Saddam alive, says daughter KANISHKA BOMBING UAE prince ousted, army sent in
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NRI Sikh killed in
Southall brawl 10 die in clash with terror suspects
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Musharraf to focus on Indo-Pak ties Islamabad, June 15 To shore up support for the President ahead of his visit, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) yesterday got a unanimous resolution ratified in the National Assembly reposing faith in his leadership, while the Speaker of the House Amir Hussain ruled that the LFO issued by Musharraf before the polls was “valid” and “part” of the constitution. The LFO issue, however, appears set to follow Musharraf during his visit as the British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Mark Lyall Grant told reporters here yesterday that Britain would like to see the LFO controversy resolved amicably. “We would like to see the question of the LFO resolved because clearly it is leading to a certain paralysis of the Parliament. If the issue of the LFO is resolved then the relations between the government and Parliament would be better and the Parliament would operate in a more effective way than it is at the moment,” Grant said while briefing the media about the General’s visit. Musharraf would leave for Britain tomorrow to hold talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair on the Indo-Pak peace process as well as steps to enhance defence co-operation between UK and Pakistan. From London, Musharraf would leave for Germany and then to Camp David on June 24 where he would be received by President George W Bush.
PTI |
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Action against anti-US insurgents Fallujah, June 15 The campaign dubbed Operation Desert Scorpion began today and involves a series of sweeps throughout Iraq using most of the US army units present in the country, said Capt John Morgan, a spokesman for the V Corps. “It’s a combat operation to defeat the remaining pockets of resistance that are delaying the transition to a peaceful and stable Iraq,” he said. Iraqi families complained of strong arm tactics by the 1,300 troops who carried out the Fallujah raids 55 km west of Baghdad. Some said troops broke into homes and arrested people with no involvement in attacks on American forces. To defuse animosity, the troops followed up their assault by delivering humanitarian supplies, including school books, medicine and even teddy bears. No American or Iraqi casualties were reported in the operation involving soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade. The sweep, one of the largest since the Iraq war was officially declared over on May 1 met no resistance and lasted only three hours. Participating in Operation Desert Scorpion are the arm’s 3rd and 4th Infantry Divisions, the 101st Airborne Division, the 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, the 1st Armoured Division and US air force units. Earlier, unidentified assailants launched a mortar attack on a U.S. military headquarters in Ramadi, west of the capital Baghdad setting the building on fire, an Arab television station reported today. The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television quoted one of its correspondents in Baghdad as saying that ambulances were seen heading towards the compound. The compound had previously served as headquarters for the Iraqi Military Intelligence before President Saddam Hussein was ousted by U.S.-led forces in April, Jazeera said. Several U.S. soldiers have been killed or wounded in the last two weeks in ambushes concentrated in two main areas — to the west of Baghdad around Ramadi and Falluja, and to the north around Balad, Baquba and Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown. Washington blames diehard Saddam loyalists for the attacks. U.S. forces this week fought their bloodiest battles in Iraq since U.S. President George W. Bush declared the major combat over on May 1. The U.S. Army said it killed 70 persons in a combined air and land assault on a ‘’terrorist training camp’’ in western Iraq on Thursday and 27 other persons who it said ambushed a U.S. tank patrol north of Baghdad on Friday.
AP, Reuters |
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Saddam alive, says daughter London, June 15 The newspaper said it had conducted the interview in an hour-long telephone call with Raghad, 36, at the home of her brother-in-law, Jamal Kamel. She described how she, one of her sisters and their children escaped being killed by missiles at a family farm on the first night of the war. “The last time I spoke to my father was five days before the war. He was in good spirits. I know he survived the war. But once Baghdad fell it was all so quick, all the family went our own ways. I am not in touch with any of them. But I believe they are still alive,’’ she said. She denied persistent reports that she had considered seeking asylum in Britain, acknowledging that this was “politically impossible’’. The newspaper said she was still in Iraq this weekend, living with her four children aged between 10 and 19, and with her sister Rana, 34, and her three children. The family did not leave Baghdad until April 9, the day the city fell. Raghad and Rana were reported to have been estranged from their father since the murder of their husbands, Hussein Kamel al-Majid and his brother Saddam Kamel, both cousins of Saddam. They had fled to Jordan in August, 1995, but were lured back to their deaths the following year.
DPA |
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KANISHKA BOMBING Vancouver, June 15 Months before the Kanishka flight exploded off the Irish coast in June 1985 killing all 329 persons on board, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had received information that the threat potential to all Indian missions in Canada was high and this was intended to include Air-India, Canadian media reports said. The CSIS had also alerted the Canadian Police about its surveillance of the suspected mastermind, Talwinder Singh Parmar, on June 4, 1985. Its agents had seen Parmar and another suspect, Inderjit Singh Reyat, go into the woods near Duncan and then heard what they believed were gunshots. It was later learnt Parmar and Reyat were testing explosives, said the reports quoting RCMP briefing on the Air-India investigation. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) did not follow up this information until after the June 23 bombing as they believed that the target of Sikh extremists at that time was Rajiv Gandhi and not any Air-India aircraft, the reports said. The RCMP interviewed Parmar as it was interested in finding out what he intended to do during Gandhi’s visit to New York city, they stated in a 1992 report on the Air-India case. They also wanted to dissuade extremists from any action against Gandhi during a trip to the UN, the police said. “The action (to investigate Parmar) was preemptive, sending a message (to Parmar’s group) that the authorities were aware of, and were reacting to the alleged plot to kill Gandhi,” ‘The Globe and Mail’ said quoting the Canadian Police briefing note on the Air-India investigation recently released by the British Columbia Supreme Court. The note also said the RCMP received information from Air-India in early June 1985, that one of its planes might be sabotaged.
PTI |
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UAE prince ousted, army sent in Dubai, June 15 Troops and armoured vehicles deployed around the palaces of the new crown prince, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al-Qassimi, who was appointed by decree yesterday, and his father, Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qassimi, the ruler of the emirate. “The reinforcements were sent from the federal capital Abu Dhabi, to the northern outpost at the request of the Ras al-Khaimah authorities to maintain stability and public order,” an official said. The decree met with resistance from supporters of Sheikh Khaled bin Saqr al-Qassimi, 63, who had held the title for more than four decades. Tension was running high today after shots were heard late yesterday. No reason was given for the appointment of the younger brother who is 48. A source close to the palace said: “hundreds of persons went to the ruler’s palace yesterday to express their support for the deposed crown prince and ask Sheikh Saqr al-Qassimi to take back his decision”. The governor said, the decision had been taken over a “local matter”.
AFP |
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NRI Sikh killed in
Southall brawl London, June 15 Two others, a 17-year-old and a 24-year-old, were also stabbed. The three were taken to the nearby Ealing Hospital, where Balkaran was pronounced dead. The police said an earlier incident, in which, three Asians had been shot at the Glassy Junction pub, popular with Asians in the Southall area, was not connected with this gang war.
PTI |
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10 die in clash with terror suspects Riyadh, June 15 The London-based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA), citing “diverse sources” in Saudi Arabia, said eight security officers and two civilians were killed in the clash.
AFP |
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