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Monday,
August 25, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Jamali-Pervez differences surface PPP flays Musharraf’s offer on Kashmir Nepal expels Pak Embassy staffer USA recruiting Saddam’s spies
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Jamali-Pervez differences surface Islamabad, August 24 As the government struggled to end the 10-month-old Opposition blockade of Parliament, differences between the camps of Musharraf and Jamali have reportedly sharpened over the President’s suggestion to Jamali to reopen talks with the six- party Islamist alliance Muthahida Majlis Amal (MMA) to end the deadlock over the legality of his presidency. General Musharraf wants the government to make fresh contacts with the MMA to end the constitutional deadlock, but the Jamali camp, which appeared to have been fed up of talking endlessly with the MMA reportedly showed no enthusiasm, saying nothing can be gained by talks without Musharraf making concessions, media reports here said. The MMA for its part demanded Musharraf to quit as the Chief of the Army Staff as a compromise for it to get him elected as President through Parliament and assemblies. Musharraf, who got “elected” through a referendum, rejected the MMA’s demand saying that quitting the Army would seriously erode his power base. Jamali, who endlessly shuttled between the residences of various Opposition leaders to woo them has reportedly said that he was “sick and tired” of contacting the MMA and other Opposition leaders. Jamali reportedly said that he was hardly in a position to cut a give-and-take deal as he had no mandate from Musharraf to break the impasse, local daily Dawn reported today. “It was a “totally frustrated” Prime Minister who left for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for a five-day official visit”, the newspaper said adding Mr Jamali believed that talks might yield results and Parliament would not function smoothly without the President conceding anything to the MMA. The differences between Musharraf and Jamali reportedly came out in the open during their joint meeting with over 40 senior ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) leaders in Islamabad. During a meeting of collective interaction with the PML-Q parliamentarians last week, the Prime Minister said that he could not be held responsible for the growing differences between the government and the Opposition. “Jamali maintains that he, being a simple MNA and without enjoying strong support of the PML-Q and its coalition partners, was not in a position to deliver anything in the current situation,” the newspaper quoted PML-Q sources as saying. While the reports of open assertions by Jamali could put his job in peril, reports said that the PML-Q was not divided into Jamali and Musharraf loyalists led by party President Sujhat Hussain. The party President, who proposed Jamali’s name for the Prime Minister’s post at the instance of Musharraf do not see eye to eye with Mr Jamali on many issues.
— PTI |
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PPP flays Musharraf’s offer on Kashmir Islamabad, August 24 “The statement of General Musharraf, given before the Indian delegation recently, that Pakistan was ready to go beyond its historically stated position on Kashmir is a great setback to our internationally recognised principled position on the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. The people of Kashmir are indivisible,” a PPP statement said. Terming the Kashmir issue as a reality “that cannot be denied”, Musharraf had said that India and Pakistan would have to show flexibility and go beyond their stated positions as otherwise there would be no progress. “The Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, which the General had tried to bargain away, was a right accepted by the international community, the UN Security Council and the Indian Government of the time”, the statement claimed. It said that even at a time when 5,000 square miles of the Pakistani territory and 90,000 troops were in the Indian hands, the PPP government had stood firm on the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination at Shimla, referring to the 1971 war between India and Pakistan. “Now for no apparent reason the General’s voluntary offer to give up the principled position amounted to a stab in the back of their valiant efforts”, the PPP said.
— PTI |
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Nepal expels Pak Embassy staffer Kathmandu, August 24 Mohammed Masood, an upper division clerk at the embassy, was nabbed on August 18 by a special police team at a restaurant at Nayabaneshwor here after he allegedly tried to pay the bill with fake money. He was also found carrying fake Indian currency worth Rs 45,000. Pakistan Ambassador Zamin Akram was summoned by the Foreign Ministry yesterday and told that Masood had 72 hours to leave the country. Appreciating the Nepal Government’s action, India’s Ambassador Shyam Saran had drawn Kathmandu’s attention to the unnecessarily large number of staff in the Pakistan’s Mission here, an Indian Embassy source said. While there were only six staffers in the Nepalese Embassy in Islamabad, what is the logic behind deputing 30 staffers by Pakistan in its Embassy in Kathmandu with very little work to perform, the Ambassador had asked in a letter written to the Nepal Government, the source said.
— PTI |
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USA recruiting Saddam’s spies Washington, August 24 The move to recruit members of Hussein’s security service underscored a growing realisation among US officials that the American forces alone could not prevent attacks like the bombing of the UN headquarters last week that claimed the lives of 23 persons, the ‘Washington Post’ said quoting US and Iraqi officials. US officials did not disclose how many former agents had been recruited so far, but Iraqi officials said they number anywhere from dozens to a few hundred. The US authorities had stepped up the recruitment over the past two weeks despite some objections by members of the Iraqi Governing Council. Officials said the extraordinary move was needed for better and more precise intelligence. The US
military commanders had also decided to minimise large-scale raids in Iraqi neighbourhoods to capture Iraqi resistance members as they caused anger and could increase support for the resistance movement.
— PTI |
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Saddam’s ex-general held Fallujah, August 24 The Al-Quds Brigades was formed by Saddam Hussein at the start of the second Palestinian uprising or intifada in September, 2000, with the avowed aim of invading Israel. The group was one of a handful of paramilitary organisations that put up fierce resistance to the US-led invasion this spring.
— AFP |
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