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Thursday,
August 14, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Historical legacies should not impede
ties, says China
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61 killed in Afghan violence CIA warned of 9/11 suspect before attacks
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Iran won’t let USA quiz Al-Qaida members Pak fears regional imbalance due to Phalcon sale Pervez tells Pak to remember ‘struggle’ of Kashmir Norway envoy meets LTTE rebels
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Historical legacies should not impede Beijing August 13 “The People’s Republic of China is committed to building a constructive cooperative partnership with the Republic of India on the basis of Panchsheel, and views developing relations with India as an important component of China’s foreign policy of good neighbourliness and friendship,” the just-released 2002 annual report of China’s Foreign Ministry said. While reviewing Sino-Indian relations in 2002, the annual report noted that over the years, the two countries have reached consensus on how to develop their bilateral relations, including not to view each other as a ‘threat’, with the five principles of peaceful co-existence (Panchsheel) as its basis. Further, the common interests of the two countries far outweigh differences between them and both countries have extensive interests and similar stands in international affairs, it said. Also, the differences between China and India on some issues should not impede the development of bilateral relations, the annual report said. The Chinese side maintains that issues left over from ‘history’, like the boundary dispute, should not become an obstruction in the development of relations between the two countries, and should be gradually resolved through dialogue and consultations in the process of development of bilateral relations, the report said. “In 2002, China-India border areas maintained peace and tranquillity in overall terms,” it noted. China-India Joint Working Group on boundary issue held the 14th round of talks and the Expert Group met three times during 2002. Both sides mainly exchanged views on how to maintain peace and tranquillity in the Line of Actual Control area and implement confidence-building measures, the report said. It stressed that in 2002, Sino-India relations continued to steadily develop and both countries held frequent political exchanges and had ‘unimpeded channels’ for dialogue. In 2002, the foreign ministries of the two countries held the first round of counter-terrorism consultations and third round of security dialogue. The eminent persons’ group of both countries held their second meeting. Both countries continued to maintain sound consultations and coordination in international affairs, the annual report said. Commenting on Sino-Indian cooperation in trade and economy in 2002, the report noted that relations in this field continued to develop at a fast pace with bilateral trade registering an all-time record figure of $ 4.9 billion. —
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61 killed in Afghan violence Kabul, August 13 At least 25 people, most of them factional fighters, were killed after fighting erupted early today between forces of a sacked provincial official and his successor in a remote district of Uruzgan province, a cabinet minister said. Also at least 15 died, including a woman and children, when a suspected Taliban bomb blew apart a bus in the southern province of Helmand today. Government forces said they killed 16 Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters and lost five of their own in clashes in the southeast that began late yesterday. The cabinet minister, who did not want to be identified, said the fighting in Uruzgan involved supporters of Amanullah, the former ruler of the remote district of Kajran and his successor, Abdul Rahman Khan. He quoted Khan as saying it started after Amanullah’s fighters opened fire on a bus carrying his supporters. “Khan told me eight of his people died in the bus incident, in which 20 were wounded, and he lost seven others. Amanullah told me 10 of his men, including close family, were killed.” The minister said the fighting was continuing and the central government was trying to broker a ceasefire. Ghulam Mahaiuddin, head of administration in Helmand, said the bus blast there happened early in the morning in Nadi Ali district, west of the provincial capital Lashkargah. “Eight of those killed on the bus were male, six of them were children and there was a woman too,” he told Reuters. Mahaiuddin said it appeared the bomb had gone off accidentally inside the bus and may have been intended for an attack on independence celebrations in Lashkargah next week. He blamed guerrillas from the Taliban regime ousted in late 2001 and said it was possible the bomber died in the blast. Border police Major Ghafar said the fighting started yesterday and carried on overnight. He said two Arabs from the Al-Qaida network had been captured. Ghafar said the insurgents used heavy guns, recoilless rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades in their attack on a base used by a border battalion in the Shinkai area to the east of Khost and adjacent to the border with Pakistan. He described it as the biggest attack in the area since the Taliban fell. “In the past, they have staged small-scale attacks, but this one is the most serious of all,” he said. “Their attack had three phases. The last lasted for several hours until 6.30 this morning and after that we staged a counter-attack.” Ghafar said the authorities had not asked the US-led coalition forces for air support as Afghan forces had been sufficiently strong to chase the insurgents from the area. —
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CIA warned of 9/11 suspect before attacks Hamburg, August 13 According to the reports, the US Central Intelligence Agency was warned by Germany’s domestic intelligence service in March 1999 that Marwan al-Shehhi was a suspected member of the Al-Qaida network. However, the CIA did not pass on the information to the FBI. Al-Shehhi piloted the United Airlines plane that crashed into the southern tower of New York’s World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The claims by the German news magazine Stern and ARD Public Television came on the eve of the trial of another suspected member of an Al-Qaida cell based in Hamburg, northern Germany, that also produced two of the other hijackers. Because the CIA did not pass the information on to the FBI, the US State Department or immigration authorities, according to the reports, al-Shehhi was able to enter the USA on May 30, 2000, and follow a pilot training course in Florida. Yet the CIA knew his name, nationality and mobile telephone number and was told that Al-Shehhi had been in close contact with Haydar Zammar, a German of Syrian origin who was living in Hamburg. Zammar had been known to the CIA since 1993 as a leading Al-Qaida activist, which was why he was under surveillance. —
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Iran won’t let USA quiz Al-Qaida members Tehran, August 13 Asked by reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting whether Iran would let US officials question Al-Qaida members detained in Iran, President Mohammad Khatami responded with a firm “no”. US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage yesterday said in Canberra that Washington wanted access to high-level members of Osama bin Laden’s network held in Iran so that it can interrogate them on any future attacks the Al-Qaida may be planning. Iran has refused to identify which Al-Qaida members it has arrested and has already ruled out handing them over to the USA. Tehran says it will extradite some the suspects to unspecified “friendly countries” and try those whose citizenship has been revoked and cannot be extradited. A Saudi official yesterday said in Washington that Iran was holding some key Al-Qaida members, including the network’s security chief and a son of Bin Laden. But he said Iran had not responded to requests for Saudi citizens among them to be extradited. Asked about the issue today, Khatami told reporters: “We have always cooperated with Saudi Arabia...and we have no problem to hand them (Saudi Al-Qaida members) over to Saudi Arabia.” —
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Pak fears regional imbalance due to Phalcon sale Islamabad, August 13 “This US decision will only enhance India’s arrogance and its intransigence in refusing to resolve differences and stimulate tension in the region,” the Foreign office said in a statement here yesterday. The radar will “destabilise the existing strategic balance with far-reaching security implications for the region”. It said efforts should have been rather directed towards restoring conventional balance between Pakistan and India. “This is the key to ensuring peace and security in the region as well as to peaceful resolution of differences between the countries”. “There appear to be inadequate understanding of the situation in the region,” the statement said adding to help the recent engagement process between Pakistan and India, the USA should not have dropped its objections to the sale. —
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Pervez tells Pak to remember ‘struggle’ of Kashmir Islamabad, August 13 In an Independence Day message, General Musharraf said “on the occasion we must also remember the sacrifices being rendered by our brethren, the people of India-held Kashmir, who till date are engaged in their rightful struggle for self-determination against oppression by occupation forces”. “It was on this day that our beloved country, Pakistan emerged as a sovereign state on the map of the world,” he said. —
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Norway envoy meets LTTE rebels Colombo, August 13 “Those were constructive talks that looked at Paris and what will happen after that,” said Tomas Stangeland, a spokesman for the Norwegian Embassy. Norway is a go-between for the government and the LTTE, and brokered a ceasefire that has mostly held since February, 2002, and is considered the best chance yet to permanently end 20 years of war that has killed 64,000. —
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