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Rice slams Pak on Taliban US troops may stay longer in Iraq: Rumsfeld EDITORIAL: Iraqis up in arms Al-Jazeera airs video of hostages
Vatican for UN
involvement
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LTTE demands talks on self-rule plan
Pakistan air force plane crashes
Third man appears
in court in Chohan murder case Bangladesh hit by second strike
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Rice slams Pak on Taliban Washington, April 8 Testifying to the independent commission that is probing the attacks on World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which killed at least 3000, Rice said Pakistan’s response to the US demands was “rote, expressionless.” “Tragically, for all the language of war spoken before September 11, this country simply was not on a war footing,” Rice said in a much-awaited testimony, watched over television by her boss, US President George W. Bush. “There was no silver bullet that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks.” “Within a month of taking office, President Bush sent a strong, private message to President Musharraf urging him to use his influence with the Taliban to bring bin Laden to justice and to close down Al-Qaida training camps,” the National Security Adviser told the hearing, defending Bush’s pre-September 11 counter-terrorism strategy. Secretary of State Colin Powell “actively urged the Pakistanis, including Musharraf himself, to abandon support for the Taliban,” she said. Speaking under oath, Rice said that before 9/11, it was impossible to move strategically against the Taliban which was harbouring Al-Qaida because it had Pakistan’s support. “Al-Qaida was both client of and patron to the Taliban, which in turn was supported by Pakistan. Those relationships provided Al-Qaida with a powerful umbrella of protection, and we had to sever them. This was not easy. Not that we hadn’t tried,” she told the inquiry. She said the new approach to Pakistan combined carrots and sticks to persuade it to drop support for the Taliban. “And we began to change our approach to India, to preserve stability on the subcontinent,” she added. Rice admitted that more precautions could have been taken to prevent the attacks had there been greater coordination and cooperation among the various intelligence agencies after the FBI field offices intercepted two of the hijackers around the Millennium. — PTI |
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US troops may stay longer in Iraq: Rumsfeld Washington, April 8 Terrorists and opponents of Iraqi freedom and its new government feel extremely threatened because the Iraqi people’s progress toward self-government leaves them with no future, Mr Rumsfeld told reporters yesterday. “There’s nothing like an army or large elements of people trying to change the situation. You have a small number of terrorists and militias coupled with some protests. You have a mixture of a small number of terrorists, a small number of militias, coupled with some demonstrations and some lawlessness. It’s a serious problem, and the problem’s being worked,” he said of the recent violent incidents. He, however, denied that violence in Iraq was spinning out of control. Mr Rumsfeld and Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that if military commanders in Iraq asked for more troops they would get them.
— PTI |
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Al-Jazeera airs video of hostages
A statement by the hitherto unknown Iraqi group called Saraya al-Mujahideen (Mujahideen Brigades), shown by the channel, gave Japan three days from the airing of the video to withdraw its troops from Iraq before it killed the hostages. The Arabic statement said Japan had betrayed Iraqis by supporting the US occupation of Iraq. “We tell you that three of your children have fallen prisoner in our hands and we give you two options — withdraw your forces from our country and go home or we will burn them alive and feed them to the fighters,” it said. “You have three days from the date of this tape’s airing.” The hostages were shown wearing civilians clothes. Passports shown on the video carried the woman’s name as Nahoko Takato and the two men as Noriaki Imai and Soichiro Koriyama. At least one of them had a Press identification card. Japanese public broadcaster NHK said Takato belonged to a human rights group and she has been involved in relief work for children in Iraq since last year.
— Reuters |
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Vatican for UN
involvement in Iraq Rome, April 8 “The Pope would do the same thing today. He says today, as he did at the time, that we need the UN,” said senior Vatican Cardinal Renato Martino, a former Vatican observer at the United Nations. “Today the Pope and Vatican diplomacy doesn’t say: everyone must get out (of Iraq)....We say that this military presence must change, it must become a peacekeeping force, under UN auspices.” Martino said in an interview with the daily La Stampa.
— AFP |
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Six killed in Afghan clashes Kandahar, April 8 The fighting took place in two districts of Helmand province yesterday, they said. An Afghan soldier was killed and two were wounded, along with an American soldier, when a guerrilla opened fire as the troops searched a house in a joint operation in the province’ Sangin district, a senior provincial official said. A Taliban guerrilla was killed and four were arrested in the operation, he said. Three guerrillas were wounded when security forces retaliated after a security post was attacked elsewhere in the district, local security commander Bahadur Khan said. The bodies of two Taliban guerrillas, believed to have taken part in the attack, were found about 25 km in the north, Khan added. Meanwhile, three
police vehicles providing security to officials responsible for checking opium smuggling also came under Taliban
attack in the Kotali Dahna area of Helmand’s Nauzad district. Two police officials were killed and three wounded and their vehicle was set on fire, Helmand’s security chief Abdul Rahman Sabir
said. — Reuters |
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LTTE demands talks on self-rule plan
Colombo, April 8 The demand was made through LTTE’s proxy the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that won 22 seats in the April 2 elections and has emerged as a powerful force in a hung parliament. “The TNA urges that steps be taken forthwith to commence negotiations with the LTTE... for the setting up of an interim self-governing authority, on the basis of the proposals submitted by the LTTE,” the TNA said in a statement. It said the government must recognise the LTTE as the sole representative of the minority Tamil community, which accounts for about 12.5 per cent of the island’s 19 million population. “We strongly submit that the agony and anguish of the Tamil people cannot continue and there is an imperative need to bring the same to an end without further delay,” it said. The statement came after President Kumaratunga said the new government was preparing to open peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels, but did not give details. “We shall undertake all necessary actions to re-commence negotiations with the LTTE,” Kumaratunga said in an address to the nation last night. Kumaratunga said she wanted to establish peace but did not say when the talks would begin or whether the LTTE’s blueprint unveiled on October 31 last year would be the basis. Kumaratunga’s Freedom Alliance, which won 105 seats in the 225-member assembly and is set to nominate a cabinet tomorrow to lead a minority government, had opposed the LTTE’s self-rule plan.
— PTI |
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Kashmir issue political: Pervez Sydney, April 8 “In Kashmir, there is a freedom struggle going on and the people of Pakistan are emotionally involved with it. This is a 50-year-old dispute and we better resolve it politically.... We don’t think any terrorism is going on there,” he said in an interview to Australian public television SBS last night. “Now if anybody is carrying out terrorism around the world, we certainly are against it and we would like to act against it. ... Jaish-e-Muhammad is the one which is an extreme organisation and the leader is underground. We will get hold of him at any time, we are trying to look for him,” he said without naming. Jaish-e-Muhammad was floated by Masood Azhar soon after his release by India to end the 1999 hijacking episode of an Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar.
— PTI |
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Pakistan air force plane crashes Islamabad April 8 "An F-7 fighter aircraft was on a routine operational training mission when it crashed 32 km west of Jhang city in central Punjab, killing Flight Lieutenant Imran Tariq," PAF officials told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. They said the crash occurred apparently due to a technical malfunction, and added that a board of inquiry had already been set up to ascertain the exact cause of the accident.
— DPA |
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Third man appears in court in Chohan murder case London, April 8 Unemployed Kenneth Regan is accused of the murders of Amarjit Chohan, his wife Nancy, (25), four-month-old son Devinder, 19-month-old Ravinder and Mrs Chohan’s mother, Charanjit Kaur, (51). Regan (54) from Wilton, Wiltshire, is the third man to appear in court charged with the murder of Chohan and his family. William Horncy (51) and Peter Rees (38) have already pleaded not guilty to the five murder charges. Chohan (46) and his family disappeared from their home in West London on February 14 last year. The body of Chohan was found in the sea near Bournemouth pier on April 22 and his wife Nancy was discovered nearby in July. The bodies of their two young sons Ravinder and Devinder have not been found.
— UNI |
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Bangladesh hit by second strike Dhaka, April 8 The strike, called by Awami League and JSD, is part of their "oust-government" movement. Although no major untoward incidents were reported in the capital, police picked up dozens of Awami League and JSD supporters. Witnesses said riot police had cordoned off the Awami League central office at Bangabandhbu Avenue putting up barbed-wire fences.
— UNI |
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