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Sunday,
September 14, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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UN
postpones debate on Arafat
45 drown off Yemen WINDOWS ON PAKISTAN |
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Reyat’s
testimony a pack of lies, says prosecutor USA has
clear strategy for Iraq, says Bush US music
legend Johnny Cash dead
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UN postpones debate on Arafat United Nations, September 13 The 15-member council, which held consultations on a draft resolution late yesterday, adjourned without taking any decision on it. Instead, it set an open debate for Monday, contending that the issue required more discussion. In an open discussion, non-council members too can take part. After the closed-door meeting, council President Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry of Britain read out a consensus statement that said the council members expressed the view that removal of Arafat would be “unhelpful” and “should not be implemented.” But he said the resolution had not been introduced. Apparently, members wanted more time to consider the draft as, diplomats said, they felt that a hasty vote could draw a veto from the USA, Israel’s closest ally, who was not happy with some parts. However, under strong pressure from Arabs, the members took the interim step of agreeing to issue a statement with a language to which all agreed. The council met at the request of Arab states and 116-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) who had sought the emergency session and demanded that it quickly voted on the resolution. As the diplomats were going in for the meeting, Palestinian UN Envoy Nasser al-Kidwa said they would be pressing for a quick vote on the draft. Expressing “grave concern” at the “tragic and violent events taking place in the Middle-East, the draft demands that Israel halt any deportation proceedings and cease any threat to the safety of the “elected President of the Palestinian Authority.” The draft warns any attempt to remove Mr Arafat would prove “dangerous and counterproductive” and calls for increased efforts by both Israel and the Palestinians to implement the US-backed road map which envisages a Palestinian state by 2005. Israel took the decision to expel Mr Arafat after two suicides bombings killed 15 Israelis, calling him an obstacle to peace. NEW DELHI:
A day after disapproving Israeli plan to expel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, India today followed it up, saying any restrictions on his movements and his forcible removal from Palestinian territory would have “serious negative consequences”. “India has always recognised President Arafat as an elected leader of the Palestinian people and symbol of their cause,” an External Affairs Ministry statement said here. “We believe that any restrictions on his movements and his forcible removal from Palestinian territory would have serious negative consequences and strongly urge that no such moves be contemplated,” it said.
— PTI |
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Typhoon
kills 58 in S. Korea
Seoul, September 13 With winds of up to 216 km per hour, the strongest since the country began keeping records nearly 100 years ago, typhoon Maemi hit the southeastern coast last night before exiting today as a weak tropical storm, the anti-disaster office said. By then it had dumped 45 cm of rain in several places, flooding farmlands, cities and rivers, and triggering landslides, the National Disaster Prevention and Counter-measures Headquarters said. It said more than 24,900 people sought shelter in nearby schools and public facilities. Maemi, Korean for cicada, is "by far the most powerful typhoon since we began compiling weather records in 1904," said Yoon Seok-hwan, an official at the Korea Meteorological Administration. "Maemi's wind speed was the fastest ever," he said. The NDPCH said at least 58 people were killed by drowning, landslides, electrocution or other causes, and that 27 people were missing and feared dead. Among those killed were two people whose bodies were removed from the basement of a shopping centre in Masan city. Another 20 people were feared trapped in the basement and their fate was not known, said Lee Jong-ryol at the city's anti-disaster centre. — AP  |
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45 drown off Yemen Sana’a, September 13 The crew of the boat sailing from the northeastern Somali port of Bossaso “forced passengers at gun point to jump into the water about six miles off the coast last night,” an official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said 18 bodies had been recovered yesterday, but that Yemeni fishermen had rescued 55 persons. Ethiopians were among the passengers of the boat. All the passengers were forced into the water off the Maifaa Hajr and Proom towns near the port city of Mukalla, some 800 km south-east of the capital Sana’a.
— DPA |
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WINDOWS ON PAKISTAN IMF Executive Director Abbas Mirakhor’s flight of fancy about Pakistan’s potential to attain 10 per cent GDP growth rate in the face of depressing ground realities should, no doubt, excite Pakistan’s establishment and the people alike. It should be good tidings and make Pakistan a modern galloping nation. Indeed another Asian tiger. But with less than 6 per cent (GDP) spending on education, health and other infra structure, it could hardly have that piped dream. It is one thing to have the potential and quite another to realise it. And, if the rulers have little concern as they have demonstrated over the past five decades like some of their Asian counterparts, this remains a sweet dream. With just 5 per cent GDP at present, this deception cannot last long. Commenting on this Nation’s editorial summed up: “ It would be irrational to believe that such an enviable rate of growth could be achieved without the required infrastructure. None of the Asian Tigers, for instance, achieved that landmark without an investment in education of five to eight times ours (as a percentage of GDP) and none had to operate under ill-conceived IMF
conditionalities.” Pakistan has a high population growth rate, which has not responded to several halfhearted attempts by successive governments. “With 5 per cent GDP growth per capita income would stand at $ 660 after a decade, 7 per cent growth would raise it to $ 800 and the dreamy 10 per cent to $ 1060. Government revenue would grow. But unless effective measures are taken at the official level to ensure equitable distribution of wealth and make the people productive through education, the spectre of poverty would continue to stalk the land.” Nation added. This double-digit growth dream, given the ground realities of bad governance and poverty, looks an impossibility and perhaps the IMF executive director or his colleague, Miland Zavadjil were only sounding encouraging. But Pakistan has certainly the potential to grow that fast. Dawn’s comments were more appropriate: “Assisted by the fiscal space created by the Paris Club’s generous debt rescheduling granted in December 2001 and the not-as-generous US payoff for our help in its war against terrorism, the country’s economic managers were able in recent years to introduce the much-awaited and much-needed reforms which were being postponed over the past several years because of the absence of a financial cushion to soften hardship that inevitably follows such reforms.” But over the past tree years, middle classes and the poor sections have faced more hardships and it is the private sector, which has been thriving without fulfilling any of the social obligations. Social and economic gaps have become marked and painful too. Poverty has deepened and is hurting more and more people, leading to social tensions with government running away from its economic and social obligations and the public sector falling every years; religious hardliners and fundamentalists have been on the rise. Dawn also wrote: “The growth rate too could not go beyond 5.1 per cent. And it is likely to remain stagnant at around 5 to 5.5 per cent if the government continues with its policy of keeping a tight leash on public spending, specially on education, health and the physical infrastructure, in the hope that the private sector will one day wake up to its responsibilities.” Pakistan is not using its resources in the shape of $ 11 billion in foreign exchange reserves, high export and revenue growth and low inflation, to expand public development expenditure aimed at employment generation and human resource development. What can Pakistan’s economic managers really do? There is no doubt that Pakistan’s risk ratings have recently improved and it can mobilize more resources. It can garner more money from international financial markets. But if the policies remain tied to war hysteria and hate India campaigns and keep increasing its defence budgets besides losing heavily for want of good bilateral trade with India, it could hardly convert itself into a welfare state. Improved growth rate and poverty reactions are two closely inked parameters. And poverty removal and social upliftment are the last priorities with the military rulers. If anyone has any doubts, a look at what happened in Okara in West Punjab where the military ousted thousands of farmers from their lands and usurped their wealth for the benefit of the army generals, could be an eye opener. |
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Reyat’s testimony a pack of lies, says prosecutor Vancouver, September 13 “Reyat consistently failed to tell the truth. His testimony reflected his hostility towards the prosecution and his intention is to conceal, obfuscate and mislead,” prosecutor Leonard Doust told the British Colombia court hearing the trial yesterday. Also, in a highly
unusual procedure, Doust asked Justice Ian Bruce Josephson to rule that Reyat was hostile towards the prosecution, media reports said. If the court accedes to Doust’s request, the prosecutor will be entitled to cross examine Reyat on his testimony as if he was a defence witness. Else, Reyat’s statements would remain as evidence in the trial, the Canadian daily, The Globe and Mail, said.
— PTI |
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USA has clear strategy for Iraq, says Bush Washington, September 13 “We are following a clear strategy with three objectives — destroy the terrorists, enlist international support for a free Iraq and quickly transfer authority to the Iraqi people,” Mr Bush said in his weekly radio address. “We will fight and defeat the terrorists there so we don’t have to face them in the USA...and we will help transform Iraq into an example of progress, democracy and freedom that can inspire change and hope throughout the west Asia,” the US President said. “When a constitution has been drafted and ratified by the Iraqi people, Iraq will enjoy free and fair elections. The coalition will yield its remaining authority to a free and sovereign Iraq government,” he said. On the fight against terrorism and stepped up attacks against US-led forces in Iraq, he said “We began a war on global terror that continues to this hour.” “Today, with our help, the people of Iraq are working to create a free and prosperous society. The terrorists know that if these efforts are successful, their ideology of hate will suffer a grave defeat. So they are attacking our forces, international aid workers and innocent civilians,” he said.
— PTI |
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US music legend Johnny Cash dead Nashville, September 13 “Johnny died due to complications from diabetes, which resulted in respiratory failure,” said Cash’s manager Lou Robin in a press release issued by Baptist Hospital in Nashville. Cash had battled a disease of the nervous system, autonomic neuropathy and pneumonia in recent years and was once diagnosed with a disease called Shy-Drager’s syndrome, a diagnosis that was later deemed to be erroneous.
— AP
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United Nations,
September 13
