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Saturday,
October
4, 2003,
Chandigarh, India  
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US Congressmen tell Jamali to
stop violence in J&K Room for Indo-Pak
talks, says Powell Can’t guarantee
end to cross-border terrorism, declares Pak 5 Shia Muslims gunned down in Karachi
US inspector
finds no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq Iraqi leader
promises democratic set-up |
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Schroeder reasserts ‘courage to
say no’ to Washington
Explosives found
ahead of APEC summit
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US Congressmen tell Jamali to stop violence in J&K
Washington, October 3 Mr Jamali met leaders from both chambers of the U.S. Congress, and after a meeting with senior US Congressman Joseph Crowley, who is also a member of the influential House International Relations Committee, said that the members had asked him (Jamali) “When is Pakistan going to stop groups from waging this terrorist war against India?”. Congressman Crowley then told Mr Jamali: “Over the past weeks, I have seen continued attacks against the people of Jammu and Kashmir and against Indian troops. When is this going to stop? “Mr Jamali did not have any answer to this question. Instead, he spoke about India not being sincere about resolving the Kashmir issue.” As Jamali walked out of a meeting at the US Chamber of Commerce, ANI TV briefly interviewed him. Asked how did he characterise his meetings with the Bush Administration, the Pakistan Prime Minister said: “We discussed many issues like terrorism, development and, of course, the Kashmir issue.” In response to a question on suspicions in Washington that Pakistan was not doing enough to rein in the Taliban, Mr Jamali said: “Pakistan is creating no problems and we are trying our best to fight the Taliban. Claims of our security forces helping the Taliban are simply not true”.
— ANI |
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Room for Indo-Pak talks, says Powell
Washington, October 3 “Even as we fight terrorism of the kind manifested by cross-border activity, there is still room, I believe, for the two parties to engage in dialogue and find ways to go forward,” he told reporters at the Foreign Press Centre here yesterday. Mr Powell was responding to queries whether the USA considered India’s war against terrorism as part of the global war and about Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s stance that there could be no talks with Pakistan until there was a halt to cross-border terrorism. Mr Powell said the USA had condemned cross-border terrorism. “It’s a matter of discussion with our Indian and Pakistani colleagues at every opportunity.” President George W. Bush had discussed it recently with both Mr Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, he said. “We, at the same time, recognise that, as we are committed to defeating terrorism, there are still opportunities for a dialogue.”
— UNI |
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Can’t guarantee end to cross-border terrorism, declares Pak
Islamabad, October 3 “Seventy thousand Indian troops couldn’t seal the border, so I cannot also guarantee (it). But I can guarantee one thing: there is no government sponsoring of anything that is going on the Line of Control,” President Musharraf told the Time Magazine in an interview. On the crackdown against Al-Qaida, he said: “It is in Pakistan’s interest to act against Al-Qaida. We want to do it. Our forces want to do it.”
— PTI |
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5 Shia Muslims gunned down in Karachi Karachi, October 3 “Two men riding on a motorbike opened fire on their passenger van as they were going for the Friday prayers,” Karachi city police chief Tariq Jamil said. “Five persons were killed on the spot while seven were injured. Three of them are in serious condition.” He said it was a sectarian killing. A Shiite political party blamed the attack on two outlawed Sunni extremist outfits.
— AFP |
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US inspector finds no weapons
of mass
Washington, October 3 However, Chief Weapons Inspector David Kay in his report to the US Congress yesterday said his team of 1,200 experts was still in the middle of an intensive hunt and that there was “substantial evidence” to suggest that Iraq had the intent of producing weapons of mass destruction. “We have not found at this point actual weapons,” Mr Kay said, adding, “We have found substantial evidence of an intent of senior-level Iraqi officials, including Saddam, to continue production at some future point in time of weapons of mass destruction.” Mr Kay said his team had found “dozens of WMD-related programme activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002.” On the issue of whether Saddam had been in the process of reviving efforts to develop a nuclear weapons programme, another ground advanced by Mr Bush for going to war without UN backing, Mr Kay said investigators had found no evidence beyond a possible tentative restart “at the very most rudimentary level.” “It clearly does not look like a massive resurgent programme,” Mr Kay said on Capitol Hill after briefing lawmakers in private. There was evidence, however, that Iraq was carrying out “a very full-scale programme” to extend the range of its missiles beyond the permitted distance, Mr Kay said. Although the team had not found any WMDs, “we are not yet at the point where we can say definitively either that such weapon stocks do not exist or that they existed before the war and our only task is to find where they have gone,” Mr Kay said. On another specific item, mobile trailers that were found after the war and cited as possible evidence of a biological weapons programme, Mr Kay said it was still unclear what they were used for. He cited biological weapons and helium weather balloons as two possibilities. On how much time the search would take, Mr Kay said the inspectors needed at least nine more months. Mr Bush has meanwhile asked Congress for $ 600 million for the inspection. Over $ 300 million have already been spent on the search. Mr Kay’s report had been keenly awaited as six months of post-war searching passed without any announced findings that would validate most of Mr Bush’s assertions about Iraq’s weapons programmes and ties to terrorism.
— PTI  |
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Iraqi leader promises democratic set-up
United Nations, October 3 Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on the last day of the high-level debate yesterday, Mr Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the council, said the new Iraq would be based upon "dignity, freedom, justice and peace" and would respect and uphold all human rights, beginning with those contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He said Iraqis had suffered humiliation and pain for more than three decades and sharply attacked those who criticised US President George W. Bush for war. "The liberation of Iraq, and what happened indeed is liberation, could not have been achieved without the determination of President George W. Bush and the commitment of coalition," he said. The delegation sent by the Governing Council occupied the Iraq seat in the Assembly which for sometime was manned by diplomats appointed by the Saddam Hussein regime. Under the rules, the delegates submit their credentials to the Credentials Committee which takes several months to process them. But credentials of any delegation could be challenged in which case the committee meets immediately to decide the matter. In case of the Governing Council’s delegation, no objection was raised.
— PTI |
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Schroeder reasserts ‘courage to say no’ to Washington
Magdeburg (Germany), October 3 On the 13th anniversary of German unification, Schroeder said Germans should “take pride” in the fact that they no longer felt bound by the “long-justified historical necessities” to follow the policies of the post-war Western alliance. “Thirteen years of German unification also means 13 years of German sovereignty,” the chancellor said in a keynote address to some 1,000 dignitaries at the congress centre in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, focal point of this year’s German Unity Day festivities. “Germany can no longer escape vital decisions in the world,” he said. “Our allies will not permit that.” Saying Germany is prepared to commit itself internationally both militarily and economically, he noted that 9,000 German peacekeeping troops had been deployed on the Horn of Africa and in Afghanistan. “We should be proud that we have taken these military roles,” he said, but in a veiled slap at the United States, Schroeder added: “Germans have taken on these military roles without exaggerated patriotic jingoism.” Without specifically mentioning the USA or its President George W. Bush, the German chancellor said Germans should also be proud that his government had the courage to stand up on foreign-affairs issues. “We find that we have allies in this approach within NATO and, as I found out last week, within the United Nations,” Schroeder said of his visit to the UN General Assembly opening session at which he delivered a speech defending Germany’s opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq.
— Reuters |
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Explosives found ahead of APEC summit
Bangkok, October 3 The police said it had also found assault rifles at a dump site in the northern suburb of Laski, 10 km from the airport, during a campaign to rid the country of illegal weapons after an anonymous call telling them where to find the arms. It said among the Laski stash was 1.5 kg of C-4 explosive, enough to raze a three-storey building, two AK-47s, three M-16s and 200 rounds of ammunition.
— Reuters |
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