 |
|
23 killed in Algeria refinery blast
Musharraf insincere on reform,
says report |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pak ban on Indian channels to stay Sinha meets Bush Kumaratunga joins hands with Marxists
Kanishka verdict likely Iowa backs Senator Kerry 19 kids rescued
|
|
23 killed in Algeria refinery blast Skikda, Algeria, January 20 The blast at the petrochemical complex in the port city of Skikda, 500 km east of the capital Algiers last evening, caused at least 74 injuries and shut down all activity at the oil and gas refinery complex. “We’re working to remove debris and look for survivors and bodies,” Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil told state radio. “We have halted the refinery of Skikda as a preventive security measure,” Khelil said. The minister did not say when the refinery would reopen, adding the priority now was to find survivors and secure the installations. It was still not clear what caused the blast, which was felt for kilometres and destroyed three of the refinery’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) units. Officials said they believed the blast was caused by an accident at one of the LNG units. OPEC-member Algeria, which has been hit by a decade of Islamic rebel violence, is a major oil and gas producer and has one of the world’s largest natural gas reserves. It’s a key supplier of gas to Spain and Italy. A Reuters reporter at the scene said fires were still burning at the Mediterranean refinery complex operated by state-owned energy group Sonatrach, where 12,000 persons work. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika visited the devastated site on Tuesday. An official inquiry has been opened. Khelil said the oil installations at Skikda, which produce 335,000 barrels per day, were not destroyed in the blast but the main electricity plant serving the industrial zone was damaged and had been halted as a preventive measure. The port contributed 84 percent of the 14 million tonnes of oil destined for exports each year.
— Reuters |
|
Musharraf insincere on reform, says report WASHINGTON DC: On the heels of two recent assassination attempts against Gen Pervez Musharraf the Pakistani government has been conducting raids on some jihadi
madarsas, but, says an international crisis management group, it is yet to demonstrate the will to close them altogether. In a new report, “Unfulfilled Promises: Pakistan’s Failure to Tackle Extremism,” the Brussels-based International Crisis Group has criticised General Musharraf for failing to keep his pledge of reforming Pakistani society by reversing the trend of Islamist extremism. The report notes that Pakistan’s failure to close jihadi
madarsas and to crack down on jihadi networks has resulted in a resurgence of domestic extremism and sectarian violence, including the two assassination attempts against General Musharraf in Rawalpindi in December. “Musharraf’s priority has never been eradicating Islamic extremism but rather the legitimisation and consolidation of his military rule,” says Robert Templer, director of Asia Program at ICG. “For that, he depends on the religious right. If the US and others continue to restrict their pressure on Musharraf to verbal demarches, the rise of extremism in Pakistan will continue unchecked.” In a televised speech two years ago, General Musharraf had promised a series of measures to combat extremism. One of the key issues was to bring all
madarsas into the mainstream and to increase scrutiny of them by controlling funding and curriculum. Noting that General Musharraf’s call for an end to the promotion of the ideology of jihad was welcomed around the world, the ICG report says: “Two years on, however, the failure to deliver to any substantial degree on pledges to reform the
madarsas and contain the growth of jihadi networks means that religious extremism in Pakistan continues to pose a threat to domestic, regional and international security.” Several Pakistan-based extremist groups were banned, but these groups were allowed to continue working under new identities with the same leadership. Many, though banned a second time in November 2003, continue to function unhindered. Noting that Pakistan’s laws on terrorism and extremist groups remain “muddled and opaque,” the report says: “While the government claims to be tackling terrorism, it has taken almost no steps towards restricting the extremism that permeates parts of the society. Even Al Qaida was not officially banned until March 2003.” US Ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powell said in a speech in Karachi in November that her government was alarmed by the resurgence of outlawed Islamist terrorist groups in Pakistan. These groups, she cautioned, “pose a serious threat to Pakistan, to the region and to the United States.” General Musharraf’s failure to crack down on such organisations owes less to the difficulty of implementing reforms than to the government’s own unwillingness, says Samina Ahmed, ICG’s South-Asia project director. |
|
Pak N-expert’s detention challenged Islamabad, January 20 Islam and seven others linked to Pakistan’s key uranium enrichment facility Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) were picked up from their homes late Saturday for “debriefing sessions” in the wake of reports from an international nuclear watchdog. “We have sought the high court’s intervention to declare the detention of Major Islam as illegal and unconstitutional,” lawyer Ikram Chaudhry said. —
AFP |
|
Pak ban on Indian channels to stay Islamabad, January 20 “The government would not lift ban on the Indian channels,” Pakistan’s Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad told the Pakistan upper house Senate yesterday. The minister did not provide reasons for continuation of the ban but his defence of the “performance” of the state-run PTV and claims of plans to grant licences to 11 more private channels reveals the mindset of the Pakistan Government that airing of Indian channels by cable operators in the country would pose a threat to both PTV and the emerging private channels. Ahmad in the past has defended continuing the ban on the Indian channels as well as cable operators showing Indian films for reasons of country’s security as well as fears by new Pakistani private channels that they would be swamped by jazzy Indian channels. Though established Pakistan private channels like Geo and ARY lend half-hearted support to demands by cable operators to permit Indian channels, specially the entertainment channels, the ban helped them consolidate themselves as the viewers had no other choice but to watch them. Interestingly, while the Pakistan Government persisted with the policy of ban on the Indian channels, both Geo and ARY have been expanding the “Indian content” in their programmes. Geo owned by Pakistan’s Jang newspaper group has hired noted Indian anchor Annu Kapoor for the programme ‘Gayaege Duniya Geete mere.’ The programme aired every Sunday at prime time topped the popularity rating of all its programmes. Buoyed by its success, Geo also featured a comedy produced by Indian and Pakistani film actors, which also became a big hit. ARY also shows Indian film songs. Significantly, the Pakistan Government while granting licences to private televisions did not give them the rights of up-linking facilities. As a result all had to depend on PTV for live coverage. The cable operators of Pakistan, who last year went on an indefinite strike to demand lifting ban on Indian channels, had hoped the Pakistan government would lift the ban during SAARC summit but the much awaited announcement did not come through. —
PTI |
|
|
Sinha meets Bush
Washington, January 20 During the 20-minute meeting, Bush also congratulated Sinha on the “important progress” made in relations between India and Pakistan. —
PTI |
|
Kumaratunga joins hands with Marxists Colombo, January 20 The United People’s Freedom Alliance was formed at the main Bandaranaike International Conference Hall here amid tight security, with members of Kumaratunga’s Sri Lanka’s Freedom Party and the JVP taking part in the televised ceremony. The parties did not disclose their agreement on sharing seats and portfolios in the event of forming a government either through a snap election or engineering it. A similar pact between Kumaratunga’s party and the JVP collapsed after five weeks in October 2001 and led to snap parliamentary elections which were won by Wickremesinghe’s party. The new alliance is seen here as a prelude to snap elections in the hope of defeating Wickremesinghe’s government which revived the Norwegian-backed peace process started by Kumaratunga but suspended in April 2001. The Colombo Stock Exchange reacted to the new alliance by shedding 5 per cent yesterday and the market remained flat today as investors feared an early election, brokers said. In their MoU, the president’s party and the JVP slammed the Norwegian-brokered truce as a move that helped the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to gain militarily. —
PTI |
|
Kanishka verdict likely by June Vancouver, January 20 Over the next month or two, Crown prosecutors are expected to wrap up their case against accused Air India bombers Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri in the unprecedented terrorism case, the daily ‘Vancouver Sun’ said. The defence lawyers will then try to show there is not enough evidence to link the duo to the Kanishka bombing and produce witnesses to give alternative explanations for who might have been responsible for the act of terror, it said. Some predict a verdict may come close to the 19th anniversary of the Air India bombing this June. Others think it will be September or later. —
PTI |
|
Iowa backs Senator Kerry New York, January 20 Senator John Edwards was close second to Kerry but Richard A Gephardt got a major blow and reports predicted last night shortly after the result came in that he would drop out of the race. A confident Kerry thanked Iowa, saying, “I want to thank Iowa for making me the `comeback Kerry.’” Pushed to the third spot, Dean, however, struck a confident tone, saying “We will not give up.” More than 1,00,000 Democrats participated in the caucuses and Kerry won 38 per cent of state convention delegates and Edward bagged 32 per cent. —
PTI |
|
19 kids rescued Kathmandu, January 20 The Indian police stopped the children at Bhittamod in the Indo-Nepal border and handed them over to their Nepalese counterparts, Superintendent of Police in Nepal’s Dhanusha district Tapendra Hamal said. —
PTI |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
WASHINGTON DC: On the heels of two recent assassination attempts against Gen Pervez Musharraf the Pakistani government has been conducting raids on some jihadi
madarsas, but, says an international crisis management group, it is yet to demonstrate the will to close them altogether.
