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Thursday,
August 7, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Rumsfeld
sceptical of more US troops for Iraq
No nuke
aid to Iran, says Pakistan Zardari
indicted in murder case USA to
file terror charges against Pak man
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Ties
with India not to affect relations with Pak, says China
Episcopal
Church approves gay Bishop UK move
to fingerprint Lankans challenged
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Rumsfeld sceptical of more US troops for Iraq Washington, August 6 Mr Rumsfeld said he was not yet convinced about the need to increase the size of the armed forces to cope with US
commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. His views contrasted sharply with recent comments by senior American military officers who see a larger force as virtually inevitable in the absence of any significant reduction in overseas missions. Noting that additional analysis was under way, Mr Rumsfeld warned against any rapid move to increase what the Pentagon calls “end-strength”, given the high cost and long tag times associated with adding troops. “We want to have the right number” he told reporters yesterday. As an alternative to increasing the troops, Mr Rumsfeld cited several efficiency and organisational measures that were under consideration or being adopted. These include reducing or eliminating some long-standing peacekeeping missions, using private contract personnel to help protect military installation, putting civilians in more than 300,000 non-combat jobs now performed by uniformed troops and rebalancing assignments between active duty and reserve units. In the case of Iraq, Mr Rumsfeld said efforts were underway to enlist more allied forces and accelerate the formation of new Iraqi military and police forces. On the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein last month, Mr Rumsfeld was of the view that confidence was growing in Iraq that the Baathists would not be returning to power. “As a result, more Iraqis are coming forward to help the coalition. People coming in are providing helpful information as the coalition deals with the remnants of the Baathist regime that are seeking to undermine their progress,” he said. About the 25-member Governing Council, including Sunnis, Shias, Kurds, Assyrians and Turkoman, he said it was broadly representative of the Iraqi population. On the Al-Qaida in Iran, Mr Rumsfeld said, “It is correct that there have been and are today senior Al-Qaida in Iran. To the extent that they are able to operate and function from there, that is harmful. To the extent that they are in one way or another not being allowed to function and operate out of there, that is better.”
— PTI |
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No nuke aid to Iran, says Pakistan Islamabad, August 6 “Such reports appear part of a malicious campaign against Pakistan’s consistent and established record of safeguarding its sensitive nuclear technology and ensuring that this technology was not transferred by any organisation or individual, to any other country,” a foreign office spokesman claimed yesterday. He was responding to a Los Angeles Times report published on Monday which contained allegations that the so-called father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme Abdul Qadeer Khan had played a key role in developing Tehran’s programme. “Pakistan’s commitments, affirmed at the highest level, that it would not export any sensitive technologies to third countries remains unquestionable,” he claimed.
— PTI |
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Zardari indicted in murder case
Islamabad, August 6 Charges were laid against Zardari yesterday in a court in the southern port city of Karachi, officials from Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party said. The prosecution charged that Zardari had plotted from his Karachi prison the murder of Sajjad Hussain, a former Chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) who was shot dead in the city in September, 1998. An anti-corruption court last year sentenced Zardari to seven years in jail and fined him four million rupees (around $ 69,000) for receiving kickbacks in a contract between a private group and the PSM. Hussain was a star witness in the corruption case against Zardari. Zardari, former Senator and a former minister who has been in jail since Bhutto’s second government was dismissed in 1996, is facing multiple cases of corruption, murder and smuggling of drugs. A Swiss magistrate last week found Bhutto, Zardari and their Swiss intermediary guilty of money laundering and handed them a six-month suspended jail sentence, ordering them to return nearly $ 12 million plus a diamond necklace to Pakistan.
— AFP |
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USA to
file terror charges against Pak man Washington, August 6 Uzair Paracha has been secretly detained as a material witness since his arrest on March 31 in the offices of a New York clothing import firm owned by his father, according to sources. The authorities believe that the Paracha family business may have been used as a cover for attempts to smuggle Al-Qaida operatives or weapons into the USA, sources familiar with the case told the Washington Post.
— PTI |
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Ties with India not to affect relations with Pak, says China
Islamabad, August 6 Visiting Chinese Vice-Minister Cai Wu told a delegation of PML (N) and PPP parliamentarians separately that Sino-India ties will not be developed at the cost of its close relationship with Islamabad. Cai said his government considered Kashmir a core issue which must be settled peacefully through diplomatic level dialogue. He also said the foreign policy of his government was based on the principles of non-interference, equality, peace and coexistence. He said China hoped for the normalisation of the situation in Afghanistan and its return to stability, so that China could play its role in the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country.
— PTI |
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Bali bombing suspect defiant on eve of verdict Denpasar (Indonesia), August 6 “Why should I be afraid?” Amrozi said with a confident smile as he was led out of a court here. The 41-year-old village mechanic is due tomorrow to be the first of more than 30 accused on trial for the October blasts that killed 202 persons in Bali to receive a verdict, and prosecutors have asked for the death penalty. Amrozi appeared in court today to testify in the trial of another bomb suspect, Mubarok alias, Hutomo Pamungkas. But in a typically brazen performance from the man dubbed “laughing bomber”, Amrozi refused to do so. When asked why he would not testify, Amrozi replied to the judges: “Because I can withdraw, can’t I?” Pressed further, he said: “So that it (the hearing) can proceed quickly.” The law allow a witness to refuse to testify if he is a defendant in the same case. Amrozi even dismissed attempts by the judges to read out the clauses that allowed him to refuse to testify, and then asked to leave the courtroom when the prosecutors moved to read the police report into his questioning. BALI: A key suspect on trial for the Bali bombings hailed the blast in Jakarta that killed up to 16 persons, before launching a verbal attack on Australians. On how he felt about the bombing at the JW Marriott Hotel yesterday, Imam Samudra said: “I am happy, thanks be to God, even more so if those who did it are Muslims.” He was speaking as he left the court, where he had appeared as a witness in one of the Bali bombing trials. Samudra indicated he hoped the victims were Jews.
— AFP, Reuters |
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Episcopal Church approves gay Bishop
Washington, August 6 The House of Bishops of the Church voted 62 to 43 with two abstentions to confirm Rev V. Gene Robinson’s election by Episcopalians in New Hampshire, ending three days of emotional debate and unexpected accusations at the general convention. The election was held after dropping charges that he had engaged in sexual harassment and patronised Internet pornography. The vote yesterday came after a Church official said he found “no necessity to pursue further investigation” into last-minute allegations against Robinson, which delayed the vote on Monday. Those opposed to a Bishop flaunting his homosexuality had warned that Robinson’s confirmation, together with a proposal to develop a rite for blessing same-sex couples, could split the Episcopal Church and drive a wedge between the 2.3 million Episcopalians in the USA and most of the other 75 million members of the Anglican Communion. Robinson’s supporters have called the threat of schism a scare tactic, noting that the Church did not split, despite similar warnings, when the convention voted to ordain women in 1976, when a Church court allowed the ordination of gay men in 1986 and when the first female Bishop was named in 1989. Robinson, 56, is divorced and has lived with his male partner, Mark Andrew, 50, since 1989. He was elected Bishop by Episcopalians in New Hampshire in June, but the election required the consent of both houses of the Church’s general convention, which meets every three years.
— PTI |
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UK move to fingerprint Lankans challenged
Colombo, August 6 Mangala Samaraweera, a member of Sri Lanka’s Parliament for the main opposition People’s Alliance, in a fundamental rights petition challenged Sri Lankan Government’s approval of the British plan. Samaraweera said he wanted the Sri Lankan Government to withdraw the permission given to fingerprint Sri Lankans travelling to the UK, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported. The British High Commission in Colombo, with approval from the Sri Lankan Government, last month started fingerprinting those obtaining visas to travel to the UK, as part of a six-month pilot project to tackle illegal immigration and asylum seeking. Sri Lanka is the only country where the pilot project has been implemented.
— DPA |
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